Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Monday expressed anger with Lahore division party leadership over the “unimpressive” public gathering held at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore on Sunday.
Maryam Nawaz while chairing PML-N’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) and Central Working Committee (CWC) meetings in Lahore has expressed displeasure with the party leaders after they failed to bring out the people to the jalsagah.
“Lahore division leadership failed to bring people to PDM public gathering at Minar-e-Pakistan.” It was expected that 500,000 people will attend the rally but unfortunately, the rally could not attract as much audience as it was being expected,” said Maryam Nawaz in a meeting.
Sources aware of the development said that Maryam Nawaz made it clear in the meeting that designations would be given to party workers in the future based on their individual performance.
PDM failed in Lahore?
Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of major opposition parties failed to attract public support in Lahore’s public gathering held at Minar-e-Pakistan.
Some analysts are of the view that the PDM has failed to bring public in a procession of 11 Opposition parties. According to police sources, around 8,500 people participated in the Lahore rally, while according to the special branch around 10,000 people attended the PDM’s public gathering at Minar-e-Pakistan.
Similarly, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhary said that PDM failed by its poor show in Lahore. He held PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz as the sole responsible for this failure. “Lahore is the hub of PML-N where they failed to bring workers to Minar-e-Pakistan,” said Fawad Chaudhary accompanied by Shehbaz Gill in Islamabad on Monday.
He also asked the Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar to ban the entry of Mahmood Achakzai over his statement in the PDM gathering at Minar-e-Pakistan. “The yesterday show was the last show of Sharifs,” he further said, asking the PML-N MNAs and MPA not to follow Maryam Nawaz.
Read more: PDM Lahore Jalsa: How big a threat for IK government?
PPP leader Shehla Raza was slammed on social media for sharing a picture of the late Khadim Hussain Rizvi’s funeral at Minar-e-Pakistan and stating that it was the PDM’s jalsa in Lahore from the other day.
ایک گھنٹہ پہلے کے جلسہ گاہ کے منا ظر۔۔۔۔
سلیکٹڈ کو اندازہ ہو گیا تھا ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔
مستقبل کی مصروفیات ڈھونڈ لی ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔
دھوپ میں بیٹھ کر بھی وقت گذارا pic.twitter.com/NqQOw6IogP— Syeda Shehla Raza (@SyedaShehlaRaza) December 13, 2020
To counter media and critics, PDM leadership shared pictures and videos. PPP leader Shehla Raza had taken to Twitter and written that the “selected” (referring to PM Imran Khan) knew about the huge crowd in Lahore and had started making arrangements to keep himself busy with other activities in the future. “Dhoop may beth ker bhi waqt guzara (He also sent plenty of time outside in the sun),” she wrote, referring to PM Imran Khan’s pictures from early Sunday where he could be seen feeding his dogs.
However, Pakistani Twitterati were quick to find out that one of the pictures Shehla Raza posted was that of Khadim Hussain Rizvi’s funeral last month at the Minar-e-Pakistan.
After an apparent failure in Lahore, on Monday, the PDM leadership has asked the government to quit by January 31 or face an intensified opposition movement, including a long march to the capital.
The demand was made by PDM president Maulana Fazlur Rehman while speaking to the media in Lahore alongside PML-N’s Maryam Nawaz, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and other opposition leaders.
Read more: PML-N’s lawmakers contacting PTI ahead of December 13 rally?
As part of the anti-government movement, Rehman said lawmakers from PDM member parties in the national and provincial assemblies will hand in their resignations to their party leaders by December 31. “Today, we want to make clear to the government that it should resign by January 31,” the JUI-F leader said.
Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has said that the PDM is “more than welcome to Islamabad and they can resign as well”. Speaking exclusively to ARY News, he said the PDM leadership won’t resign from the assemblies and only fool the nations.