PDM says will hold rallies despite ban
ISLAMABAD: The multiparty opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), has rejected the government move to impose restrictions on public gatherings in the wake of spike in COVID-19 cases and announced that its remaining three public meetings will be held as already planned.
“There is talk about banning the public meetings on the pretext of coronavirus. We reject any such decision of the government and the PDM’S public meetings will be held as per schedule,” PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rehman told reporters ater presiding over a meeting of the heads of the constituent parties.
He ruled out any talks with the Pakistan Tehrike-insaf (PTI) government on any mater, terming it an ‘illegitimate’ government.
“We are not ready to hold talks with the government in any way. The government people are not representatives of the people,” the PDM chief said when asked if the opposition parties would talk to the government on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s proposal to hold the upcoming Senate elections through show of hands.
He said the present rulers were habitual of rigging and such proposals were aimed at pressuring the party members of the provincial assemblies, explaining that they were preparing to block such moves.
Rehman said the PDM had rejected the results of the elections held in Gilgit-baltistan (GB) and considered the whole exercise an “action replay” of the July 2018 elections. He said they would not rest until sending the present“selected government” packing.
Criticising the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and other institutions, the PDM chief said the opposition had rejected the “present accountability system” in the country. He said the PDM leaders had expressed their concern over the delay in the foreign funding case against the PTI by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The PDM chief said that the meeting approved the basic principles for preparation of a new Charter of Pakistan (COP).
The 12 points of the cop are“supremacy of federal, Islamic, democratic and parliamentary constitution; sovereignty of the parliament; elimination of the role of establishment and intelligence agencies; independence of judiciary; reforms for holding independent, transparent and judicious elections; protection of the fundamental and democratic rights of the citizens; protection of the rights of the provinces and the 18th Constitution Amendment; establishing effective local governments; defending the freedom of media and freedom of expression; implementation of the National Action Plan against terrorism and extremism; preparation of an emergency economic plan to end price hike, unemployment and poverty and protection and implementation of the Islamic clauses given in the Constitution.