The deadline set by the united opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government to step down or face street agitation expired on Sunday night, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
About a month and a half ago, the PDM demanded the PTI to resign by January 31 or face agitation including a long march on the federal capital.
“Today, we want to make clear to the government that it should resign by January 31,” PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rehman had told a press conference after a meeting of senior opposition leaders in Lahore. Flanked by PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Maulana Fazl said that if the government did not resign by the end of January, the opposition would launch a long march toward Islamabad—the exact date of which has yet to be decided.
He had further said that supporters of the PDM’s constituent parties and the general public should start preparing for the long march “from today.”
Though later the PDM’s protest campaign fell apart as the PPP stepped back from the issue of resignations keeping in view the coming Senate elections as it did not want to give the rivals an open field.
Top PDM leaders still insist that the plan for long march and resignations will be taken up after the Senate elections due in March.
As the PDM’s deadline expired, its leaders have already launched consultations to frame the future line of action including the long march.
To rub salt in the PDM’s wounds, senior PTI leader and Federal Planning Minister Asad Umar in a tweet on Sunday said “It was heard somebody is going to resign today. Leave those (resignations) demanded from us and which were not coming. What about other resignations.”
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Usman Dar Sunday said the government was giving sanctity to vote in the upcoming Senate elections through a show of hands or open balloting.
In a TV interview, he said it was a great chance for all the political parties to conduct the Senate polls through open voting to wipe out horse trading incidents from it.
He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government would move a constitutional amendment bill in the Parliament soon to make open voting in the Senate elections mandatory.
Usman Dar said it was mentioned in the Charter of Democracy (CoD) that the Senate polls should be conducted through open balloting. The Pakistan Peoples’ Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had introduced the horse-trading politics in the senate elections in the past, he added.
On December 15 last, Maulana Fazl had said the anti-government alliance had signed a “declaration” of intent regarding their mutual objectives. He reiterated that said lawmakers from PDM member parties in the national and provincial assemblies would submit their resignations to their respective party leaders by Dec. 31, adding that these would be submitted to the speakers “at an appropriate time.”