Rahbar Committee to meet tomorrow to fix APC date, PML-N, PPP leaders say

KARACHI: A meeting of the Rahbar Committee has been scheduled for tomorrow — Thursday — to fix a date for an All Parties Conference (APC), leaders of the two main Opposition parties said Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference, PML-N stalwart Ahsan Iqbal said his party leadership arrived in Karachi to express solidarity with the people and to ramp up efforts to rebuild Pakistan's financial capital.

"In today's meeting, the Opposition parties discussed routine political matters and decided to participate in a Rahbar Committee's meeting tomorrow," Iqbal said.

The PML-N leader said the Opposition would respond to the incumbent government's political, economic, and governance failures by strengthening the collaboration between parties.

"The time has now come to convene an All Parties Conference," he said. The Opposition "will bring forward all constitutional and legal options to send this government back home and save the country from disaster", he added.

'Crucial' issues

Iqbal said the PTI-led government's "incompetence" has become a disaster as the country's economy plunged, hatred is being spread, and the foreign policy was such that Kashmiris have been looking to Pakistanis this past year but "we have failed to do anything for them".

These are some of the issues that we think are "crucial", he said. "After the Rahbar Committee's meeting, an APC will be called," he said, adding that the committee would layout a plan of action.

Iqbal said the Charter of Democracy signed by former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto stated that both parties — the PML-N and the PPP — would strive for the rule of law, an independent judicial system, freedom of press, and sovereignty of the Parliament, as well as work to defend democracy.

"It was decided that none of the political differences between the parties would come in the way of their goals," he said, adding that these were the ideals that Pakistan was built on.

The former interior minister said the freedom of the people was being taken away today and that the PPP and PML-N believed that Pakistan's future depended on Quaid-e-Azam's vision of the country — which rested in the implementation of the rule of law.

Responding to a question after the briefing concluded, he said the PML-N stood with the Opposition parties against the imposition of a presidential system.

"When the fall of Dhaka took place, even then the presidential form of government existed in Pakistan," he said, adding that every time there was a presidential system, the country's smaller provinces felt discriminated against.

"During Ayub Khan's 10 years, the presidential system was adopted; the same goes Zia-ul-Haq, Yahya Khan, and Musharraf's eras," he said. "It divided the country, made it weak, and caused a sense of deprivation among the smaller provinces."

'Help Karachi get back on its feet'

Iqbal added that after 72 years, experiments in the system of governance system were not needed and that the 1973 Constitution was the only way to run and strengthen the country.

Speaking of the torrential August rains in Karachi, he said that the showers were unprecedented and no less than a calamity.

"At the time of such a calamity, instead of engaging in blame games, we must arrive at a solution to help Karachi get back on its feet," Iqbal reasoned.

"The federal government must take lead and sit down with Sindh, [...] damage must be compensated and better infrastructure for the future must be ensured," he said.

Speaking on the legislation to meet the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) requirements, he said that the Opposition fulfilled its national duty by allowing the ratification of the bills.

"The biggest evidence of this is that the foreign minister penned a letter to the leader of the Opposition and appreciated the Opposition's role in the process," he said.

The PML-N leader said the only legislation the Opposition did not agree on was the one in which to the government had sought to "bring in a black law like the NAB's where anyone can be incarcerated without bail for 90 days and without any justice provided".

Shehbaz visits flood-hit areas, meets PPP leaders

PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Karachi earlier today along with Iqbal and party spokesperson, Marriyum Aurangzeb, for a one-day visit to the city, which was ravaged by torrential rains that triggered urban flooding and prolonged power outages last week.

During his visit, he met PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari at Bilawal House. Both parties' leaders "expressed their resolve to ramp up the democratic struggle against the incumbent leadership," according to an update from the PPP's media cell.

Both sides also agreed that the federation would have to play its role for restoration of areas ravaged by the recent rains.

The PML-N leader advised Prime Minister Imran Khan not to politicise the problems being faced by the people of Karachi and to focus on helping them instead.

"The PM should not engage in politics and should work with the Sindh government," he told the media after arriving at the airport. He added that the Centre should consult with its provincial counterpart over the relief operations in the port city.

"Politics should not be done when Karachi is under water," the former Punjab chief minister said, adding that the city was facing "destruction".

The Opposition leader also asked where the funds announced by the federal government for Karachi — when it had promised billions of rupees for the metropolis — had gone.

He also paid a visit to different neighbourhoods of Karachi, including Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Malir, where he met families of victims whose lives were and offered his condolences over the difficulties endured by the citizens.

"Witnessed extreme anger and anguish among the people during my visit to Malir and Gulistan-e-Johar. High time all stakeholders took this outrage as a WARNING and got down to fixing the rot," Shehbaz wrote on Twitter.

"No shiny power point [presentation], social media trends/blame game can be [an] alternative to service delivery," he added, along with a video of him meeting the residents of the area.

Earlier before departing from Lahore, Shehbaz spoke to Geo News, saying he was coming to Karachi with "a message of solidarity" for the people of Sindh. "After the destruction in Karachi due to [recent spell of] rains, everyone must work unitedly," he said.

Speaking about three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the PML-N leader said he was undergoing medical treatment and would return to the country without delay as soon as his doctors allowed it.

'Setting priorities right'

Shehbaz's visit came a day after Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa arrived in Karachi on Tuesday for a two-day visit to the metropolis. The army chief was flown over the city for aerial reconnaissance of the urban flooding's ground impact.

According to a statement from the military's media wing, the army chief had said the country's issue was not the non-availability of resources but setting priorities right.

Gen Bajwa was briefed about the worst urban flooding in the recent history of Karachi and the Army's support to civil administration across Sindh and Karachi.

He was also "apprised that unprecedented rains combined with decades of urban congestion, unplanned population settlement as well as infrastructural issues compounded the problem," the ISPR had said.

"No city in Pakistan can cope with a natural calamity of this scale," the army chief had said.

"The plans being made by the federal and provincial governments will have Army’s all-out support, as having future repercussions on the economic security of the country."