In a bid to maintain unity in ranks of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has expedited his efforts to remove differences between Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
According to sources, Maulana Fazlur Rehman had contacted the leadership of the both parties and urged them to stop issuing statements against each other on media.
He was of the view that the statements were causing damage to the goal of PDM. Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that they had to forget their differences and move forward.
Earlier on March 20, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had refused to answer Asif Ali Zardari’s call after a heated meeting of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PMD), claimed sources privy to the development.
Former president Asif Ali Zardari had made a telephone call to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supremo, Nawaz Sharif after the PDM meeting to discuss the future strategy, but he reportedly refused to answer the call despite being at home.
The former finance minister Ishaq Dar had attended the call and told the PPP co-chairman that Nawaz Sharif was angry and he was not willing to talk to him.
Read More: Does the government really want to bring Nawaz Sharif back to Pakistan?
During the telephonic contact Asif Ali Zardari had raised reservations over the nomination of Azam Nazeer Tarar as Opposition Leader in Senate as he was the lawyer of the alleged killers of Benazir Bhutto, sources familiar to the development had said.
Do not criticize PDM, Bilawal
Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto has advised his party leaders and media teams to avoid any critical commentary on PDM following the fissure within the opposition alliance on the strategy that emerged after Asif Ali Zardari’s demand of return of Nawaz Sharif before en masse resignations can come to pass.
According to the reports divulging from within party circles, Bilawal has instructed PPP leaders and responsible people overseeing media to refrain from any harsh comments to PDM which may weaken the opposition against the incumbent government.
Bilawal has instructed the leaders who appear before the media to make sure they don’t react to criticism in a way that compromises the opposition alliance’s agenda against the government.
Separately to be reported today according to sources, PPP and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) have agreed to cooperate with each other in the next elections after Bilawal Bhutto met Siraj ul Haq yesterday at Mansoora in Lahore.
According to the details agreed by the two parties and shared by sources having knowledge of the entire discussion, the PPP wanted cooperation from Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Sindh provinces.
“Besides the future cooperation, the JI also extended its support to PPP for opposition leader in Senate,” they said while quoting Siraj ul Haq who said during the meeting that since PPP has the majority seats, it has the right to have the slot of the opposition leader.
Notably, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday mocked PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and said that “there is a family in Lahore who used to get selected in the past”. “If I wanted to comment on the PML-N’s vice-president, I would have asked my [party’s] vice-president to comment on it,” said Bilawal when a reporter asked the PPP chairman whether Maryam Nawaz took a dig at him by saying that “another selected was being prepared.”
“There is no such blood in our veins to become selected. There is a political family from Lahore with such background,” he added.
Read more: PTI goes to the SC over PML-N foreign funding
Responding to another question, Bilawal said the PDM’s long march should not have been delayed adding that PPP was well prepared for the long march. “The resignations were linked to the long march ten days before the Islamabad march.”
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that Pakistan Peoples Party will take a final decision regarding the matter of resignations in the CEC meeting.