Chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – Fazl (JUI-F) Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman hosted an All Parties Conference (APC) in Islamabad on Wednesday in which top leaders of major opposition parties showed up to plan against the government.
The 8 hours long meeting decided to rule out the Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani, by obtaining lawful procedures. Further, it has been decided to observe the election date of 2018 (i.e. 25 July) as ‘Black Day’ because of alleged rigging in the elections. The participants of the meeting criticized the federal budget and declared it as “anti-people, anti-traders, and anti-industrialists”. The participants also decided to continue the protests and start public awareness campaigns against the budget.
The meeting also concluded to demand production orders of detained MNA’s of PTM Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar, and to force the government to craft laws in favor of the missing persons, so that they can be presented before the court. Immediate removal of hidden restrictions and censorship on media to ensure the protection of journalism was also part of the agenda.
Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman presented a suggestion to the participants to demand collective resignations from the government, on which no consensus could be witnessed.
While commenting on the APC, Special Assistant to PM on Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdaus Ashiq Awan said that those who are corrupt would never seek an end to it. She added that “When they realized that institutions are now independent, that there is rule of law and Constitution and the noose of accountability is tightening around them, they suddenly remembered, 10 months later, the irregularities in the election,”
The meeting was attended by high-end officials of all opposition parties including Shehbaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Other mainstream leaders who attended the meeting from PML-N were Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ayaz Sadiq, and Ahsan Iqbal. PPP’s delegation included Raza Rabbani, Nayyar Bukhari, Sherry Rehman, and Farhatullah Babar.
However, Sardar Akhtar Mengal of BNP-M and Siraj-ul-Haq of Jamaat-e-Islami did not attend the meeting.