PM won’t resign, says Shah Mehmood Qureshi

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Rejecting the ultimatum given by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) as “unconstitutional and undemocratic”, Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday emphatically stated that neither Prime Minister Imran Khan would step down, nor the assemblies would be dissolved.

“I want to clearly tell the PDM that we reject your ultimatum for the resignation of the prime minister by January 31. The system of country will not be run on your wishes,” Shah Mehmood Qureshi said at a news conference here.

The minister said if the opposition parties were really serious in resolving the issues of national and public importance such as inflation, provincial autonomy, National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, etc, they could hold dialogue with the government with political reasoning. Qureshi, however, made it clear that the government will not hold talks on personal cases or any NRO.

“For personal cases or NRO, there is a clear-cut no from the PTI side,” he remarked. The foreign minister advised the opposition parties to learn lesson from history, saying such conduct of the PDM could harm democracy in the country.

Qureshi described the PDM’s public meeting in Lahore on December 13 as complete flop and said even people of Lahore, where Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) won all national and provincial assemblies seats except three, demonstrated political wisdom and rejected their narrative.

To a question, the foreign minister said that the ''third force'' in the country did not want to get involved in politics at all and was performing their professional responsibilities. “Be it coronavirus, locust attack or urban flooding in Karachi, they always fulfil their responsibilities for which we are thankful,” he remarked.

The minister said the opposition parties were pushing themselves to a blind alley, adding that the saner elements in PDM parties should advise their leadership that their demands were not only unconstitutional, but also against the interest of the country, in view of the current regional situation.

To a question on the media reports about return of Saudi Arabia’s remaining $2 billion, he said Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy excellent relations. “We had excellent relations in the past, have the same at present and will continue to enjoy these relations in future as well,” he added.

He said that Saudi Arabia always stood by Pakistan and supported it in difficult times, including the deposit of $3 billion in State Bank of Pakistan, to help address the country’s balance of payment issue. The foreign minister, however, mentioned that as Saudi Arabia, like many other countries in the world, was also facing financial issues due to COVID-19 situation, and it was the responsibility of Pakistan to pay back the amount. He further pointed out that Saudi Arabia also extended its wholehearted support to Pakistan for a recent resolution on Kashmir from the forum of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

“Saudi Arabia put its full weight behind Pakistan for the resolution, which was supported by 57 Islamic countries,” Qureshi added. About Pak-UAE relations, the foreign minister said that he would soon be meeting with his UAE counterpart.

Qureshi said that with Bilawal Bhutto Zardari being shown on the front, the real authority of decisions in PPP still rested with Asif Ali Zardari. Similarly, the minister said that the PML-N was also divided in two groups with one segment supporting the stance of Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz while the other backing Shahbaz Sharif.

He said that another evidence of the failure of December 13 public meeting of PDM in Lahore was the reaction of business community and stock market which witnessed upward trend on the very next day.

Meanwhile, terming resignations as an ‘atom bomb’ in the hands of the opposition, the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the strategy to use it will be devised by the 11-party alliance under the banner of the PDM.

Speaking to media outside Kot Lakhpath Jail after meeting the PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif, Bilawal dismissed reports that his party was against resignations. “The PDM unanimously decided that its lawmakers will handover resignations to their party chiefs by December 31,” he said.

“Our resignations are our atom bombs and the PDM will strategise on how to use it,” he said. “All of PDM is on the same page. We have the same destination and one target: to restore democracy in the country.”

When asked if the opposition would be open to a national dialogue, Bilawal said there was no point in seeking talks in a situation when there is “a puppet prime minister who has a puppet chief minister and puppet government spokespersons”.

“When an important issue like the FATF was being debated in the August House, the leader of the opposition was not allowed to speak. In such a situation, on which forum should we seek a national dialogue?” he questioned.

Bilawal said the opposition has made up its mind that the government has to be removed. “This is the only way to pull the country out of the crisis. Their deadline is January 31 and today, through these cameras, I want to give a message to Prime Minister Imran Khan: resign,” he said.

Responding to a question regarding the meeting with Shahbaz, Bilawal said he had spoken to Maryam Nawaz about visiting the PML-N president earlier. “Since I am in Lahore, we submitted a request. It is our tradition to support even our greatest adversaries during tough times such as these. I wanted to offer my condolences,” he said. “This is the first government to politicise a mother’s death and we condemn it,” he said.

Bilawal said the government neither has the courage to hear the truth nor the capacity to run the country. “Where in the modern world would you see current and former leaders of the opposition behind bars?” he asked, referring to Shahbaz Sharif and PPP’s Khursheed Shah. “It is only due to the PTI government’s stubbornness and ego that they are imprisoned,” he added.

The PPP chairman said Shahbaz Sharif had proposed a national charter and suggested working together, but the government was always opposed to it. “They only want to jail those who do opposition – whether they are politicians or media critics. Even those taking out a rally can be incarcerated. This is not how democracy works,” he said.