Pakistan Peoples Party leader and ex-lawmaker Nabil Gabol said Monday if people love their lives they must avoid joining political rallies amid the Covid-19 outbreak. He was speaking to Kashif Abbasi, a prominent anchorperson, in his show Off The Record, when he said that Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is only holding political rallies and protests, but at the end of the day, it is up to the people whether they want to join them or not.
We earlier enforced a lockdown in the province to avoid Covid-19 spread soon after the outbreak of the global pandemic but did people comply, he asked rhetorically suggesting that it is up to the people to do what they deem right.
He said his party, the incumbent Sindh government, alongside the PDM alliance, will keep organizing their rallies and political processions and will not stop anyone from joining them. Gabol added that if indeed the second wave of Covid is so deadly, then the incumbent federal government should impose a lockdown and ban the political power shows.
On the other hand, with a surge in Covid-19 cases in the country, Prime Minister Imran Khan has convened a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) tomorrow to review the pandemic situation in the country.
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Chairing a high-level meeting in Islamabad today to review the overall situation of the pandemic in the country, the prime minister has directed to take all possible measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and to protect the lives of common people.
PDM does not represent common Pakistani
Two days ago, Ayaz Amir, a prominent Pakistani political commentator who regularly appears on Dunya TV, has said that the PDM does not have a future. “I am unable to understand their [PDM’s] agenda and program. What do they really want?,” he asked.
Mr. Amir also highlighted the failing state of the economy in Pakistan. “Pakistan’s economic condition is not stable and you expect people to support a narrative which has no practical appeal. PDM’s narrative is only for the elites running this movement,” he maintained.
While narrating the impact of Maryam’s speeches, Amir pointed out that “had the public been with PML-N, people would have come out and stood by Maryam”. “We see it did not happen because there is no serious talk about people,” he said. “Let’s admit the fact that the PDM has no momentum,” he concluded.
Hasan Askari Rizvi, a political analyst who served as Chief Minister of Punjab during the 2018 polls, said during a talk-show on Dunya TV that “the movement will likely involve more rhetoric than action”. Dr. Rizvi was of the view that the opposition parties won’t be able to stay united as many of them have “competing and contradictory interests”.
There is also an opinion that the opposition is likely to fail due to an obvious that it has no anti-government plan. “The opposition will not be able to sell out its narrative. Khan’s government has a success story when it comes to Foreign Relations, it has an exemplary performance when it comes to defeating COVID-19, and Khan’s speeches at the UN made him a hero,” a senior bureaucrat told GVS. The officer was of the view that the opposition could set the agenda on high inflation but that is insufficient to shape an anti-government narrative when the current government seems to have done more than its capacity.
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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.