Following the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)’s Lahore jalsa, PML-N Vice president Maryam Nawaz has said that “rejected” Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and his Rent-A parrots are having sleepless nights following the Lahore show.
In a statement, Maryam Nawaz said “PDM’s mammoth public meeting at Lahore has made the nights of rejected PM Tabedar Khan and his parrot’s sleepless. Pakistan Democratic Movement is fighting a war against the worst ever government in the history of country”. She said this while talking to PML-N Punjab and MNA Sardar Muhammad Irfan Dogar during a meeting on Tuesday.
PDM has been conducting jalsas all over Pakistan since its formation. The first PDM jalsa was conducted in Gujranwala with a huge turnout on October 16th. This was a promising start for the opposition movement which attracted attention of media outlets and the general population all around.
Read more: PDM blames ISPR for a flop show in Lahore
Karachi jalsa followed shortly after on October 18th which was again a huge success as far as coverage on the media was concerned due to the controversies surrounding it.
The Pakistan Democratic Movement agenda has been to oust the sitting Prime Minister. According to the framework, the 11 party coalition will conduct a long march towards Islamabad in late January or early February 2021 when the opposition will submit mass resignations in the National Assembly.
PDM believes that the resignations can disrupt the balance of the senate elections to be conducted next year, citing them as illegitimate. However, legal personnel have established that the PDM have a wrong view of how the law works and despite the resignations, the senate elections will have no effect on them.
Read more: PDM narrative ‘flops’ due to anti-Pakistan agenda: Ch Fawad
The sitting government has previously warned PDM about potential terrorist attacks at the hands of the Indian government to spread political turmoil. In November, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and DG ISPR released a dossier named “Indian state sponsorship of terrorism”, which cited assassinations of important political personalities as one of the targets of India.
The government had denied PDM permission to conduct its jalsas following the nation-wide ban on large gatherings due to rising numbers of COVID-19 positive cases. Maryam Nawaz in a statement continued, “Despite issuance of threat alerts of terrorism and mean tactics by the government, participation of millions of people in the public meeting at Lahore is slap on the face of Tabedar Khan and his cronies”.
Read more: Op-ed: How the PDM narrative is working in reverse
The Lahore Jalsa at Minar-e-Pakistan was however called a failure by the media and PTI government alike as there was a considerably less turnout than what had initially been expected. Compared to previous PDM jalsas, the Lahore Jalsa failed to bring in more than 15,000 people. PDM despite strong criticism continues to cite the jalsa as a success.
In the same meeting on Tuesday, Maryam Nawaz continuing her criticism of the sitting government, said “The rented parrots of the government are making futile efforts to mislead the people by making parrot like repetition of different dialects”, referring to the statements made by PTI ministers on Lahore jalsa.
She alleged that the government has dropped electricity bombshell on people to punish them for attending the public meeting. Efforts are underway to hike the price of petroleum products.
Read more: PDM good start but will go nowhere!
She went on to say sugar and atta thieves have snatched the two-time food from the people and the PM on the other hand is adding salt to the injuries of people by playing with dogs.
Maryam Nawaz while appreciating the commendable services rendered by Sardar Muhammad Irfan Dogar has asked him to make full preparations for long march to be conducted next year.
Critics have cited that the Lahore show was the last nail in the coffin and future efforts by the movement will be futile. Maryam Nawaz in a previous statement announced plans to attend Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary on 27th December when PDM will conduct their Larkana Jalsa at Garhi Khuda Baksh.