Kaira regrets PDM tied resignations to long march

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Qamar Zaman Kaira said on Tuesday that the party was ready for the long march but resignations were tied to it, reported 24NewsHD TV channel. 

Talking to the media in Lahore along with other party leaders Faisal Karim Kundi, Kaira and Hasan Murtaza, Kaira said that the PPP had sought advice from its legal experts who told that even if resignations were given, Senate elections would still be held.    

Referring to media talk by some of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leaders which created the impression of fissures within the ranks of the opposition parties’ alliance, the PPP leader further said that politicians should avoid making controversial statements before media because of these created difficulties. 

He said PPP never forced any of its political allies in the past to accept its viewpoint. “These were our principles that convinced our allies,” he claimed. 

Kaira said before Senate elections it was being propagated that the PDM did not have the required numbers in the National and provincial assemblies which could return its candidates to the Senate.  

He said people from within the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had now turned against the party leadership. 

PPP leader from Central Punjab reminded that it had always been the party’s point of view that the forum of parliament should be used for solution to political problems. “We have never been in favour of leaving the forum of parliament,” he added.  

Kaira was of the view that the country’s situation would have been different if PDM candidate for the seat of Senate chairman Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani had not been prevented from winning the election for Senate chairman. 

Making it clear to the leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) that PPP was not opposed to the idea of giving resignations en masse, PPP leader said the time, however, was not ripe for the move.  

He dispelled the impression that PPP was backing out on some of its commitments.  

He also made it clear to the leadership of both PML-N and JUI-F that the slot of opposition leader in the Senate was not so big that PPP was dying for it. 

Referring to the leakage of details of the PDM meeting a few days back in which former president and PPP Co-chairman had urged former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to return to Pakistan to become part of the opposition parties’ movement against the PTI government, Kaira said such leakages were not new. “There are times when even details of cabinet meeting are leaked,” he reminded.  

He further said that even the PPP had few complaints regarding the conduct of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. 

PPP leader dispelled the impression that Zardari was afraid from anybody. “We have never taken U-turns, and we have never dictation from the country’s establishment,” he claimed. 

He clarified that although PPP wanted to eliminate the interference of establishment in the country’s politics, still it did not want to confront it.   

It had been agreed by the PDM leaders initially that the decisions would be based on consensus and not on majority opinion.

Reporter