Conflict

To ‘oust’ Prime Minister Imran Khan, opposition parties in Pakistan launch alliance: Report

Seeking “immediate resignation” from Prime Minister Imran Khan, from the government of Pakistan, the country’s major opposition parties have launched a formal alliance to hold a “three-phased anti-government movement under an action plan” starting from next month with the countrywide protest movement, public meetings, protest demonstrations and rallies in December and a “decisive long march” towards Islamabad in January 2021 to “oust Khan’s government from the country”.

According to a report by a Delhi based news agency Press Trust of India, a 26-point joint resolution was adopted on Sunday by the All Parties Conference (APC), which was hosted by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and attended by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) and several other parties.

Briefing reporters at the conclusion of more than eight-hour-long PPP-hosted a multi-party conference (MPC) which was also addressed by deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari, the opposition leaders announced that they would “use all political and democratic options”, including no-confidence motions and en mass resignations from parliament, to seek “the selected prime minister’s resignation and an end to the role of the establishment in politics”.

The resolution alleged that the Khan government has been granted “fake stability by the same establishment” that interfered with the elections to bring the incumbent rulers to power.

In a reference to the Pakistan army, the resolution expressed “extreme concern” over the increasing interference of the establishment in the internal affairs of the country and regarded it as a “danger to the nation’s stability and institutions”.

The report added that details of the “action plan” were presented before the media by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman in the presence of PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif and vice president Maryam Nawaz, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and other prominent opposition leaders at a press briefing after the MPC.

Before announcing the “action plan aimed at ousting the present government”, the JUI-F chief also read out a 26-point declaration in the form of a resolution containing various demands, including “end of establishment’s interference in politics, new free and fair elections after the formulation of election reforms with no role of armed forces and intelligence agencies, the release of political prisoners, withdrawal of cases against journalists, implementation of the National Action Plan against militancy, speeding up of the projects under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and across the board accountability under a new accountability law”.

The MPC also expressed concern over the price hike, increase in militancy incidents and non-implementation of the NAP on militancy. It also expressed concern over the growing tension in the country due to recent sectarian-related incidents and termed it “dangerous and a result of the government’s criminal negligence”.

The MPC expressed concern over the filing of references and cases against upright and impartial judges. It endorsed the resolution adopted at a conference of the Pakistan Bar Council on September 17, terming the present process of judges’ appointment a hurdle in the way of an independent judiciary.

The MPC called for presenting the “missing persons” before the judiciary and an end to the practice of lifting people. It rejected the plan for holding local government elections on non-party basis and called for the implementation of the Aghaz-i-Huqooq Balochistan Programme.

The MPC called for the formation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to document the country’s history since 1947 in the true perspective. It decided to review the Charter of Democracy signed by the PPP and PML-N in 2006 and a committee would be formed for this purpose.

On Friday, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, according to the report, talked to him over the phone and invited him to virtually attend the conference.

Sharif staged a political comeback by criticising the country’s powerful military establishment for allegedly supporting Khan.

“Our struggle is not against Imran Khan. Today, our struggle is against those who installed Imran Khan and who manipulated elections (of 2018) to bring an inefficient man like him into power and thus destroyed the country,” Sharif was quoted by report as saying.

He asked the Pakistan Army to stay away from politics and follow the Constitution and vision of the country’s father Quaid-e-Azam’ Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

“If change is not brought, it will bring irreversible loss to this country…We have made this country a joke in our own eyes and internationally as well,” Sharif said, according to the report.

 

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