Civil disobedience if demands not met: Omar Ayub

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) sAenior leader Omar Ayub Khan Friday said that if their demands were not met, his party would go for launching civil disobedience campaign.

He told the media here that one of their conditions was the formation of a judicial commission on May 9 and November 26 incidents.

The PTI leaders visited the opposition alliance leaders to invite them for the condolence meeting in Peshawar, to be held on December 15.

“We had come here to invite our colleagues on December 15, Mahmood Achakzai and Allama Raja Nasir, and others will participate in the condolence meeting,” he explained.

Omar Ayub said that there would be consultations with Mahmood Khan Achakzai, as he was part of the consultation process on the future course of action. He clarified that there had been no negotiations with the government so far.

He claimed that they had 5,000 prisoners in different jails and countless injured persons while referring to the recent protest the PTI held in Islamabad.

Omar Ayub said that PTI founder chairman Imran Khan had added the names of senators Allama Nasir Abbas and Hamid Khan to the negotiating committee with the government.

Sunni Ittehad Council chief and MNA Sahibzada Hamid Raza said that it was up to the government to negotiate or not, insisting that the negotiations would be on the basis of equality.

“We people have got destroyed our homes, families and businesses, what are we afraid of now that we will be forced to [hold talks],” he remarked.

He said that they are talking about negotiations for the sake of stability; however, they would not forget the sacrifice of the deceased workers. He alleged that civil martial law was currently in force in Punjab.

A few days back, the PTI founder had announced formation of a five-member committee to hold parleys with the government or the establishment representatives. With the inclusion of two senators, the total number of committee members is now seven.

It is significant to note that in recent few days, various PTI leaders had expressed their desire for negotiations. However, hitherto no contact had been established between the two sides, whereas Imran Khan announced to launching civil disobedience from December 16, in case their demands are not met.

Meanwhile, another senior PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat said that negotiations with the government had not started, as only greetings had been exchanged. “If talks are held before December 15, it is good for the country because there is political instability in the country,” he maintained.

Regarding the deadline for negotiations until December 15, he said that on December 15, PTI founder Imran Khan has given a call regarding remittances. He made it clear that if the situation remained as it was, the party leader’s orders regarding civil disobedience would be implemented.

Meanwhile, PMLN Parliamentary Leader in the Senate Irfan Siddiqui said that the PTI would have to shun its deceptive approach if it was interested in serious talks.

“The PTI will have to decide whether it wants talks or civil disobedience,” Senator Siddiqui said in a statement on social media platform X.

He said that the party was desperate for negotiations with an ulterior motive of securing concessions.

“But at the same time, it will was planning to launch civil disobedience with the sole purpose of inflicting harm on Pakistan,” he said.

He said that negotiations and civil disobedience cannot go hand in hand. “If PTI is serious about negotiations, it should not add new burdens on its shoulders. The previous burden is already enough,” he said.

The opposition parties alliance, meanwhile, agreed to attend the PTI’s condolence meeting and advised the major opposition party to focus on more consultations before arriving at any decision of protest against the government.

A source, who was privy to the meeting, held here with veteran political and the alliance head Mahmood Khan Achakzai in the chair, reviewed the latest political situation and discussed the various aspects of PTI’s recent protest.

He claimed the alliance expressed solidarity with PTI over the use of force against its workers but insisted it was too early to march towards Islamabad without building a momentum at local level.

The leadership of PTI, the Sunni Ittehad Council, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) attended the meeting.

Achakzai floated some proposals with regard to the future line of action and it was decided to place the same before PTI founder chairman Imran Khan. It may be noted unlike the recent past, the Tehreek Tahaffuz Aiyeen e Pakistan had distanced itself from the last month’s protest of PTI.

The source said the meeting regretted the lack of proper strategy for the release of PTI founder and advised them to initiate protest at the district level. The meeting noted that decisions of the PTI leadership were affected by ambiguity.

The opposition parties agreed to hold consultative meetings more frequently in view of the evolving situation.