Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday criticised opposition parties for peddling Indian narrative under the banner of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, the foreign minister slammed PDM, an alliance of 11 opposition parties, for targeting armed forces and other national institutions. “Pakistan Democratic Movement is damaging Pakistan by making national institutions controversial. They [opposition parties] should be ashamed of themselves for peddling Indian narrative regarding Balochistan at the Quetta rally,” the foreign minister said.
Qureshi said the present government will not come under any pressure. “If you are thinking that government will come under any pressure by your three power shows then you must correct yourself as we [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf] also know how to hold rallies,” he said.
Earlier, the House witnessed a ruckus as PML-N’s Khawaja Asif criticised the government over employing alleged undemocratic practices. In his speech, Asif said the country’s law and constitution are ‘in peril’ because members of the government are not in Prime Minister Imran Khan’s control. He claimed that several government members were “in contact with us”. “This is a mockery of the government; an apology of the government,” he said, announcing that the combined opposition would submit an application detailing the opposition’s experiences in the parliament of the past two years to the speaker.
Asif said the federation has ‘attacked Sindh’s rights’ and ‘encroached upon provincial autonomy’ by abducting the Sindh IG, and violated the sanctity of the four walls by breaking into Maryam Nawaz and her husband Safdar’s hotel room in Karachi. Responding to Asif’s comment that the government has failed to get Pakistan removed from the ‘grey list’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Qureshi said it was during the PML-N’s tenure that Pakistan was placed on the watchdog’s list.
