ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Awami National Party (ANP) – the two disgruntled parties who were issued show-cause notices by opposition alliance of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) – have decided to form a new opposition alliance, and the names of other parties invited to join the alliance also came to light soon.
According to informed sources in both the parties, the delegations of the two parties held a detailed discussion in Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), to form a new coalition of like-minded opposition parties to wage a struggle against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
A delegation of the PPP took the message of former president Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to the ANP headquarters in Wali Bagh, which was led by Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, Sherry Rehman, Humayun Khan and Faisal Karim Kundi to Wali Bagh, the headquarters of ANP. Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Senator Hidayatullah Khan, Aimal Wali Khan and Sardar Hussain Babak represented the ANP in the talks.
During the meeting, important consultations were held regarding the future of the coalition of opposition parties, PDM.
“Both the parties have decided to contact Akhtar Mengal’s Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) and Aftab Sherpao’s Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) to join the new alliance. All like-minded parties who want to form an opposition alliance will also be invited to join the alliance including Jamat-e-Islami (JI),” sources told Pakistan Today.
PPP PREPARES STRONGLY-WORDED RESPONSE:
Sources said that the PPP has drafted a strongly worded response to the show cause letter of the PDM, which would be discussed in the upcoming CEC meeting on April 11.
They said that Bilawal will present the response before the CEC which will decide whether it to be sent to the PDM formally or convey the response verbally through a press conference.
Later, while talking to media, the leaders of PPP and ANP, the two important component parties of the PDM, blamed the ‘dictatorial attitude’ of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz for the disintegration of the opposition alliance.
ANP has already announced to quit the PDM, saying the notices were an insult to the party.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Nayyar Hussain Bukhari and Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that the PPP would take the decision of whether or not to quit the PDM at its CEC meeting scheduled later this month.
“The split in the PDM began with the issuance of the show-cause notice,” Hussain said, adding, it was an insult to ANP and couldn’t be tolerated.
Meanwhile, Bukhari said that the PPP had proposed Maulana Fazlur Rahman as the PDM head but the JUI-F chief adopted “a step-motherly attitude” towards the PPP.
He said that the PPP was ready for the “long march” to Islamabad and wanted to use resignations from the assemblies as the last option.
ANP BACKS PML-N CANDIDATE IN NA 249 BY-ELECTION:
Responding to a question, Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that the ANP had decided to support the PML-N candidate in the upcoming National Assembly constituency, NA-249 Karachi, by-election.
“It was the decision of ANP’s Sindh chapter. Our leaders at the provincial level are empowered to take such decisions,” he concluded.
