LAHORE
Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad met PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday and both vowed to oppose the Pakistan Protection Ordinance.
Sources said that during the meeting which took place at Imran Khan’s residence, both the leaders asked the government to take decisions in the national interest with consensus instead of moving towards confrontation.
The sources said they exchanged views on political situation, reported differences between the government and army, and Pakistan Protection Ordinance. They decided to work jointly to oppose the Pakistan Protection Ordinance.
Imran Khan said that the PML-N raises the slogan of democracy but in effect its thinking and actions were of dictatorship. He said the rulers were hell-bent on getting the PPO passed from parliament but the PTI would oppose the unconstitutional bill and would even use the option of going to the court in addition to protests.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Rasheed claimed that relations between the government and army were tensed and PM Nawaz Sharif would face the music.
He said Nawaz has deliberately appointed a person on Defence Minister post who is disliked by the army. He predicted that the year could be dangerous for the federal government. He informed that they have finalised strategy to protest on May 11.
Separately, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman (VC) Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Sunday said his party has devised a strategy to challenge the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance in the Supreme Court.
He said if the ordinance was passed in a joint parliamentary sitting, the PTI would challenge it in the court.
He said the PPO was a black law and they would oppose it at any front. He said they have already consulted the legal experts in this connection. He said that his party was against Talibanisation and enforcement of Shariah through the barrel of a gun. He said they are not perturbed if the popularity graph of the PTI has gone down for its efforts to bring peace in the country. He said certain people have misunderstood them without fully hearing the PTI’s viewpoint and termed the party as spokesman of the terrorist outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). He clarified that they were demanding talks for the sake of peace in the country.
The PTI VC said a few people in the government and opposition were doing politics in the name of national security. He feared that the chance of restoration of peace in the country was being wasted because of lackluster approach and internal differences in the government. He said there was still time that the government should hold talks with all stakeholders and remove their misgivings and then move ahead to rid the country of eleven years of terrorism and enable the people to live in peace.
To a question, Qureshi said the situation could deteriorate after the withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan and there was a danger of civil strike.
