Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Monday that there would be no substantial benefit of the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) planned long march to Islamabad if opposition members did not resign from parliament first.
Talking to journalists in Peshawar he said that the issue of the resignations had been put on the agenda for the opposition alliance’s meeting for the next day.
Rehman said the PDM meeting would also discuss the final plan of action for the long march, scheduled to take place at the end of the month.
Divided over the issue of submitting resignations from the assemblies at a time when the long march is just two weeks away, the heads of the component parties of PDM will hold a crucial session in Islamabad on Tuesday. JUI-F believes that after losing the elections of Senate chairman and deputy chairman, despite having a majority, it has become important for opposition parties to leave the assemblies. According to reports the JUI-F leadership was of the view that the Senate polls had also proved that their move to bring a no-confidence motion against the National Assembly speaker or the prime minister would be a futile exercise.
The PPP, meanwhile, believes that the opposition has gained much ground and political space after the recent by-elections in the country, and that the victory of Yousuf Gilani in the Senate elections caused a major dent in the ruling alliance. Rehman also criticised the recently held Senate chairman and deputy chairman elections, terming it a “rigged election”. He claimed this was clear and apparent to see in light of the irregularities that occurred. He claimed that the opposition was given the message that despite being in the majority in the Senate, it would lose to the minority.
He also blasted the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for seeking Maryam Nawaz’s bail cancellation in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.
“The claim is that she speaks against institutions and is making undue benefit of being released on bail. Is NAB the spokesman of institutions?”
Rehman alleged that in this kind of situation, the country’s politics were not being run according to the constitution and “the courts have become the last hope”.
