PESHAWAR: Former premier and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has asserted that the incumbent government was “not the people’s representative”.
“When the rulers are oblivious to the people’s suffering, then they are not fit to rule and should step down from office,” the former prime minister said while addressing a rally in Peshawar alongside other leaders of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
The Peshawar rally was a part of a series of protests by PDM, which included demonstrations in Karachi and Quetta earlier this month. The Opposition alliance will now head towards Lahore and then Islamabad — but the dates are yet to be announced.
Khaqan Abbasi claimed that the “events that led to the rigging of the 2018 elections” were gradually coming to light, as he reminded the people that former G-B chief justice Rana Shamim had blamed ex-chief justice Saqib Nisar for “playing a part in rigging” the polls.
Abbasi said the government would now rig the next general elections, just like it had “rigged” the Daska by-elections. “The legislation done in the Parliament will not resolve the country’s problems,” he added.
He reiterated that the government had granted an NRO to Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav by passing a law in this week’s joint parliamentary sitting that allows him the right to review and reconsideration, in line with orders from the International Court of Justice.
‘Will keep fighting till govt drowns in the sea’
For his part, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman asserted that the opposition alliance would keep fighting till the government drowns in the sea, adding that the current setup had damaged the country’s Islamic identity.
He claimed that that the Opposition, ahead of a joint sitting of the parliament, “received threatening phone calls demanding that votes for the passage of bills be given in favour of the government”.
Maulana Fazl said the Opposition alliance has not demanded local body elections, rather it wants to hold general elections immediately. “Prime Minister Imran Khan will not get a chance to escape when the alliance reaches Islamabad,” he added.
The PDM chief, referring to the 2018 general elections, said the “stolen” votes of the people should be returned to them, alleging that the government has “made arrangements to rig the next elections once more”.
The Opposition has been persistent that the government “formed the basis for rigging” in the next elections when it bulldozed 33 bills in Wednesday’s joint Parliament sitting, including crucial bills related to the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and granting voting rights to overseas Pakistanis.
