LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Saturday agreed to use all legal, constitutional and parliamentary options to oust the incumbent PTI-led government.
“If we want to save this country from destruction, then we will have to get rid of this government,” PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif said while addressing a press conference outside his Model Town residence where he had invited PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari to a luncheon meeting.
Shehbaz said that the consultative meetings will be held, first, within PML-N’s Central Executive Committee and then with Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). Following the meetings, a joint anti-government strategy will be chalked out, he added.
“If we don’t join hands and come on the same page, then the nation will not forgive us. We spoke in-depth about the option of a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan,” the PML-N president added.
He further said that the meeting’s participants also tried to form consensus over the anti-government long march and two to three recommendations were also made.
Speaking on the occasion, Bilawal Bhutto said the only valid parliamentary, legal and democratic mechanisms to oust the government were a no-confidence motion and protests. “We have to cast out Imran if we want to save Pakistan,” he said.
Bilawal thanked Shehbaz for hosting the luncheon and heaped praise on the PML-N president for performing his responsibilities as the opposition leader in the National Assembly.
Questioned on the PPP participating in the PDM’s long march, Bilawal said his party had welcomed the announcement but did not provide an answer. “The more our working relationship increases, the better impact it will have,” he added.
PPP has announced that they will lead a long march against the PTI government from Karachi to Islamabad on February 27. Meanwhile, the PDM has decided to hold the long march against rising inflation on March 23 (Pakistan Day).
Bilawal said despite PPP’s differences with PML-N in the past, the party was ready to keep them aside “for a greater cause”. He said a better working relation between PML-N and PPP would pose a danger for the government.
Meanwhile, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz added that differences and clashes persisted between political parties but “what unites us are the expectations and difficulties of the people.”
Bilawal and Zardari arrived earlier on Saturday at Shehbaz’s residence for the luncheon meeting. The two expressed well wishes for Nawaz’s health and also inquired about Shehbaz, who had recently tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a statement issued by the PPP.
