Upping the ante against the government, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah on Tuesday said the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) will launch a more aggressive agitation than Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) if the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government does not reconsider its decision to impose Article 245 of the Constitution in Islamabad.
Speaking during the session of the National Assembly, Shah asked the government to let PTI and PAT workers enter Islamabad, as it is their constitutional right.
Demanding an explanation for invoking Article 245, the opposition leader said that summoning the armed forces can be seen as a failure of the government. “Is the army being called in to stop the protest rallies?” he said, adding that the imposition of the article was tantamount to suppressing political forces.
Shah said the government would have to revoke its decision and do some introspection of its actions as it is making one mistake after another.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told reporters outside the National Assembly that imposition of Article 245 in the federal capital was not related to the protest marches on August 14.
“The decision to implement the article was under discussion since June, when the August 14 march had not even been announced,” he remarked.