–PPP chairman personally telephones Maryam Nawaz, other Opp leaders in bid to evolve joint strategy against govt
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday invited leaderships of the major opposition parties for a grand Iftar dinner to be hosted by him on Sunday, hours after the party’s core committee decided to expedite efforts for an anti-government movement after Eidul Fitr.
According to reports, the PPP chairman telephoned ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami party chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Fazlur Rehman, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq, Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan and other opposition leaders and invited them to the Iftar dinner.
According to informed sources, Maryam Nawaz has accepted Bilawal’s invitation and will attend the event along with senior leaders of her party.
Earlier on Friday, Bilawal held a meeting of the party’s core committee at Zardari House in Islamabad on Friday to discuss the ongoing financial crisis in the country.
The participants of the meeting included party leaders Yousaf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, Farhatullah Babar, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Rehman Malik, Chaudhry Manzoor, Naveed Qamar, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Humayun Khan and Pulwasha Khan.
Briefing reporters about the meeting, Qamar Zaman Kaira and Nayyar Hussain Bukhari said Bilawal had invited the PML-N leadership to Iftar.
“[PML-N leader] Maryam Nawaz can come to have Iftar with us,” Kaira said.
The opposition parties are gearing up to take on the government in the wake of the country’s financial crisis and increasing prices of essential commodities.
The PPP has already announced that it would launch an anti-government movement after Eidul Fitr against the rising inflation, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and deteriorating economic conditions.
The PML-N will hold a meeting on May 20 presided over by former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to discuss its future course of action.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the leader of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), has announced that his party would march on Islamabad and shut down the federal capital in protest against the government’s policies.
The PPP leaders also said the party would lead anti-government protests inside and outside the parliament.
“There are reports that the National Accountability Bureau [NAB] intends to arrest PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari,” said Kaira.
“We abide by the law and that’s why the PPP co-chairman appeared before NAB,” he added.
“But the law doesn’t allow arresting anyone without any evidence and we won’t let the NAB chairman or anyone else to do that.”
Bukhari said the participants of the meeting discussed the 26th Amendment and South Punjab province bills.
