The political crisis in Pakistan has deepened after an 11-party Opposition alliance announced that its lawmakers will resign en masse by the end of this month from Parliament to paralyse the government and force Prime Minister Imran Khan to call early snap polls.
The decision was taken after the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), formed in September this year to overthrow the government, held a marathon meeting in Islamabad.
PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman announced on Tuesday night that a consensus was reached on resigning from Parliament.
“All lawmakers will submit their resignation letter to their party chiefs by 31st December,” he said, flanked by PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz and PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. The exact timing of stomping out of assemblies would be decided later, Mr. Rehman said.
Soon after the election in 2018, he had urged the Opposition leaders not to take oath to join Parliament due to alleged rigging. But his idea was overruled by others, chiefly by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistani Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The PPP government in the Sindh province was considered as a hurdle as it was not sure if that it would sacrifice its government to help the Opposition alliance.
The leaders also agreed to go ahead with a rally in Lahore on December 13 as a show of power to the government. It will be the sixth rally after similar gatherings held in Gujranwala, Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar and Multan, which attracted a huge number of people despite hurdles created by the government.
Imran stands firm
Prime Minister Imran Khan rejected the demand to step down or call early elections and consistently advocated that the Opposition was protesting to put pressure to stop probes in corruption cases against their leaders. Speaking to a group of senior journalists and columnists on Tuesday, he said that “by-election will be held on the vacant seats” and no concession would be given to the protesting parties.
