Prime Minister Imran Khan has chaired a meeting of top Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and coalition leaders to discuss a strategy to deal with the opposition.
Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill, and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar attended the meeting.
Sources said that the premier will brief the party leadership on the future strategy against the opposition’s anti-government movement, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
The prime minister has also called a meeting of government spokespersons.
Meanwhile, at least two separate cases have been registered against the leaders of the PDM for breaking into Greater Iqbal Park and holding public rally, local media reported yesterday.
As per details, both the cases have been registered at Lahore’s Larri Ada police station on the complaint of security staff of the park.
They stated that the PDM leadership and workers broke locks and forcibly entered the park to make arrangements for the public gathering.
One case was registered on the complaint of the supervisor Mohamed Yousuf, and a second one on the complaint of Zeeshan Haider Naqvi.
On Saturday Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) workers broke into Lahore’s Greater Iqbal Park to set up stage for the PDM rally.
The PML-N workers violated the law and coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs) to force their way into the park.
The coronavirus causes the Covid-19 respiratory disease.
In wake of rapid rise in Covid-19 cases, the government put a ban on mass gatherings and public rallies across the country.
However, the PDM, an alliance of opposition parties, has been violating the ban.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has meanwhile urged the members of opposition parties to stop “playing drama” and resign as lawmakers.
In an interview with a private television channel, he said that the leaders of the PDM should present their resignations to the National Assembly Speaker and desist from playing gimmicks with nation anymore.
The minister said the government has consistently requested the opposition to refrain from organising public gatherings in open places in the face of increasing coronavirus cases.
He said that despite these requests, the opposition parties held a public gathering in Lahore, posing a serious threat to people’s health.
Information Minister Faraz has termed the opposition’s Lahore gathering a flop show.
In a tweet yesterday, he said that the members of the public have rejected the narrative of the opposition parties.
The minister said that the PDM leaders were “perturbed” due to the non-participation of people from Lahore and Punjab.
He recalled that “poisonous” language was used against the armed forces in Gujranwala rally, the mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam was desecrated in Karachi, and anti-Pakistan slogans were used in their Quetta gathering.
And yesterday Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid advised those who were at the PDM rally to quarantine themselves, given the escalating coronavirus positivity rate.
The provincial minister said that the PDM rally had increased the concerns of the coronavirus spread in Punjab, and urged everyone who attended the jalsa to quarantine themselves for at least for 14 days in order to keep their families and dear ones safe.
She lamented that despite the government’s efforts to prevent mass gatherings from taking place, the opposition still went ahead with their jalsas to put the lives of its workers at stake.
“The PDM has carried out a ‘deadly’ attack on the health of its workers under the guise of its lustrous politics and in a bid to hide [their] corruption,” she said. “People will never forgive the PDM, who has become the enemy of their well-being.”
On the other hand, PTI Senator Faisal Faisal Javed Khan said that the PDM failed to attract a massive crowd at Minar-e-Pakistan despite its tall claims.
“Eleven parties could not gather 22,000 people,” he said.
Javed also claimed that the opposition parties posted pictures of old PTI meetings on social media to show that many people attended the jalsa.
The PML-N’s Malik Ahmad Khan has said that every jalsa was a unique.
“The PDM jalsa is a movement against the ‘tyrannical’ government’s rule,” he added. “I was present at the venue, and saw that there were as many people inside Minar-e-Pakistan’s as there were outside.”
“In fact, the … venue was (too small to accommodate) the participants,” he maintained.
He also said that the opposition will now exert more pressure on the government.
In response to the PTI leaders’ assertion that they would never hand over the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NROs) to them, Ahmed said that PDM leaders are not seeking NROs.
“In what capacity can Imran Khan give NROs?” he questioned.