ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) have decided to delay their protest campaign against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, a private TV channel reported on Tuesday, citing sources.
The PPP is of the view that the PTI-led government is ‘incompetent’ and will fall flat on its face. It has suggested that the protest be launched after six months as an immediate campaign will put the opposition in bad light.
The PML-N on Tuesday decided that a party delegation excluding Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif will attend the all parties conference (APC) called by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman.
An apparent consensus by the two main opposition parties to defer the anti-government campaign as well as participate in the APC through second-tier leadership can put the conference in peril.
The decision of Sharifs not attending the APC was taken as Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif met former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Parliament House on Tuesday.
Nawaz also chaired a meeting of the party’s leadership, attended by Raja Zafarul Haq, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Rana Sanaullah, Hamza Shahbaz, Rana Tanveer, Khawaja Asif and Ayaz Sadiq.
During the meeting, it was decided that a five-member delegation from the party, headed by Raja Zafarul Haq, will attend the APC proposed by the JUI-F. The delegation will include Kh Asif, Saad Rafique, Ayaz Sadiq and Ahsan Iqbal. The party leadership also agreed that it would walk alongside the rest of the opposition parties on matters of national importance.
The meeting also discussed the country’s political situation and corruption references filed against the PML-N leaders by NAB. This is former prime minister’s first visit to the Parliament House during the past one year.
Earlier, PPP leader Khursheed Shah also stopped by Shahbaz’s chamber to meet Nawaz. After the meeting, Nawaz had lunch with the party leadership at the Parliament House’s banquet hall. Meanwhile, JUI-F leader Maulana Asad Mehmood said the PML-N leadership had not yet informed the opposition about their decision on attending the APC. “PML-N and PPP will inform Maulana Fazlur Rehman [of their decision]. The date and agenda [of the APC] will be decided after that,” he told reporters.
Published in Daily Times, October 31st 2018.
