Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz Wednesday asked the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership to submit its lawmakers’ resignations to the speakers of the respective assemblies and stop wasting the nation’s time with hollow threats.
In a series of tweets, Shibli Faraz said that the opposition was demoralized as its movement had been completely fizzled out after the flop show in Lahore.
(ن) لیگی قیادت استعفوں کی دھمکیوں سے قوم کا وقت ضائع نہ کرے،عملی اقدام اٹھائے۔ مینار پاکستان کے فلاپ شو کے بعد اپوزیشن کے غبارے سے ہوا نکل چکی ہے۔لانگ مارچ کے بعد مہنگائی مارچ کا اعلان انکے سکڑتے اور ٹھٹھرتے ایجنڈے کا ثبوت ہے ۔پی ڈی ایم کے پاس کہنے اور کرنے کے لئے کچھ باقی نہیں۔
— Senator Shibli Faraz (@shiblifaraz) December 23, 2020
He maintained that their announcement for an ‘inflation march’ after the ‘long march’ was a manifestation of their ‘shrinking’ and ‘doomed’ agenda.
In fact, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) had no agenda to pursue, the minister said.
He said the opportunistic groups in the PDM have different and separate directions. The minister said the people running movement against the government were facing movements against themselves, which was evident from the statements of JUI-F leaders Maulana Sheerani and Hafiz Hussain Ahmed.
ذاتی مفاد کو فوقیت دینے والوں کو رسوائی کے سوا کچھ نہیں ملے گا۔منتشرالخیال اپوزیشن کی انتشاری سیاست میں ملک اور عوام کا بھلا نہیں،اللہ تعالی اپوزیشن کو توفیق دے کہ اسے کرسی کی بجائے عوام اور ان کے مسائل نظر آنا شروع ہو جائیں۔
— Senator Shibli Faraz (@shiblifaraz) December 23, 2020
The minister said those who give their personal interests priority will gain nothing except humiliation. He said the chaotic politics of the opposition that has contradictory views will bring nothing good for the country and people.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi says confusion exists within PDM over various issues, including tendering resignations from the assemblies. “If they are really determined to resign, they should do it at the PDM meeting which is going to be held on Dec 8. Nobody will stop them from doing so,” he challenged the 11-party opposition alliance at a press conference on Sunday.
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“The PDM is not a natural alliance. It lacks ideological harmony as each component has a different agenda,” he said. He said that the PDM leadership had been invited to discuss the corona-related situations and devise a policy in this regard with consensus but they didn’t turn up.
Opposition’s relationship with Government
The Opposition’s relationship with the government has been patchy since the time PM Khan assumed the office. However, the situation got intense after corruption cases against the Sharif and Zardari families were filed in the courts. An All Parties Conference (APC) was called in Islamabad on September 20 where Nawaz Sharif, former prime minister, addressed the participants and slammed the country’s establishment for political engineering.
However, after holding some rallies and speaking against the armed forces of Pakistan, PML-N seems to be desperate to hold talks with the establishment.
On November 12, PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz said that her party is willing to hold talks with the military establishment, however, only under the condition that the PTI government is shown the door. Her remarks came during an interview with BBC Urdu.
After Maryam Nawaz’s demand to the establishment to step in for a “Charter of Democracy”, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, a senior leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), has asked the judiciary to help politicians initiate a national dialogue to let democracy flourish in the country.
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Khawaja Asif was speaking to Asma Shirazi of AAJ News when he suggested the judiciary to play a role in order to end the ongoing anti-government protests under the flag of the PDM.
Political analysts are of the view that the PML-N leadership failed to generate public support for its anti-army narrative which has now forced it to hold talks with the establishment. “PML-N did not get the expected support from the PPP leadership. The game seems to be over now,” a reliable source in PML-N told GVS.