LAHORE: The PML-N leadership on Wednesday remained divided between wholeheartedly joining the Azadi March of Maulana Fazlur Rehman in Islamabad and refraining from it, leaving the decision solely on the discretion of party supremo Nawaz Sharif who will decide it today when Shahbaz Sharif puts before him all suggestions.
At a meeting chaired by PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif at his residence, the senior leaders were in favour of not going to the Azadi March primarily because of a solo flight made by Maulana Fazlur Rehman so far, making the march a show of his party, sources said. However, the junior leadership advocated joining the march because it would support the very ideals and causes pursued by the PML-N in its campaign against the PTI government so far, the sources added.
The heavy presence of the PML-N leadership made the meeting of the Central Executive Committee a very important affair, as almost all senior leaders besides the parliamentarians and provincial leaders attended it. They deliberated upon the available options for ridding the country of what they called selected government which had ruined every sector of the country’s economic and social life.
According to the sources, the arguments put forward by the senior stalwarts of the party for refraining from the Azadi March included that Maulana Fazlur Rehman was trying to make a solo flight as he took all the major decisions about the timing and modus operandi of the march by himself. The PML-N leaders were quoted as saying that Maulana refused to consider PML-N’s request to postpone the march for one month, besides ignoring the platform of the APC and its recommendations on the issue. More importantly, the sources said, the senior leaders were skeptical of the actual motives of Maulana Fazlur Rehman since he had not made the actual purposes clear. They were quoted as saying that Maulana had not yet disclosed the modus operandi whether he would end the show only by staging the march or was going to stage a long sit-in. If there is a sit-in, how long it would be and for what objectives?
However, the junior leaders were of the view that the PML-N must not waste this opportunity to bring the actual public sentiments against the PTI government out on the streets to arrest the unbridled moves the PTI government had been making against the wishes and interests of the hapless masses, the sources said. The entire country was out on their feet protesting against the cruel policies of the Imran Khan government that brought all businesses to a halt and making the economy nosedive against the tall claims made during and after the elections campaign.
They warned that if the PML-N leadership refrained from joining them and the public came out on the call of Maulana Fazlur Rehman and it could become a major anti-government movement, it would be disastrous for the political future of the PML-N which is the largest opposition party in the country.
Earlier, talking to the media after the meeting, PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal condemned Prime Minister Imran Khan for his continued maligning of the country by calling it a corrupt nation. “I condemn the selected prime minister for calling the country a centre of money laundering and corruption standing on foreign soils,” he said, adding: “Imran is perhaps the first prime minister in the world to bring bad name for his country by himself.” He said corruption is rife in many countries but none of their heads of governments ever told the outside world that their countries were corrupt. He said Imran Khan is on the path of defeating himself and destroying the case of his own country, when he trumpeted the tales of corruption and money laundering in his country during foreign visits and then invited the foreign investors to invest in Pakistan.
He said: “Imran is a man of sick mentality whose thoughts remain confined to victimizing the opposition.” He said in his US visit, Imran announced to remove TV and AC from Nawaz Sharif’s cell, and standing in China, he wished he could jail 500 opposition leaders.
Ahsan said photographs proved that Imran made a fake case of narcotics against Rana Sanaullah only to silence him. Similarly, he added, the proof were solid against Judge Arshad Malik in the case of sentencing Nawaz Sharif without proving guilt. He said the entire country is in the grip of economic hardships and resulting in frustration which was threatening to break out in shape of an anti-government movement anytime. He said that in the meeting, the PML-N leadership condemned the PTI leadership for provocative statements against Maulana Fazlur Rehman, and asked them to watch video clips of their leader Imran Khan during the 2014 sit-in.
He said PML-N was actually becoming popular by the victimization of its leadership at the hands of the Imran government. He said the PML-N has formulated suggestions for party head Nawaz Sharif regarding participating in the Azadi March, and the final decision would be made by him on Thursday (today).
