PML-N meeting under Mayram decides: PDM to jointly contest by-polls: Ahsan Iqbal

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Saturday announced not fielding its candidates against the PPP in by-elections in Sindh.

PML-N Central Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal announced here after a meeting of the party’s parliamentary board that the party would participate in the by-elections, along with the component parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz chaired the PML-N parliamentary board meeting, which discussed the names of party candidates for the by-elections.

PML-N Punjab President Rana Sanaullah, Pervez Rashid, Burjis Tahir, Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar, Begum Ishrat Ashraf, Engineer Khurram Dastgir, Murtaza Javed Abbasi and others attended the meeting.

Ahsan said the list of candidates for the by-elections, along with suggestions and recommendations, would be sent to the party supremo Nawaz Sharif for final approval.

He said it was hoped that the PDM parties would support each other in the by-elections to win seats. He said the PDM parties would cooperate with each other in the by-elections and defeat the government candidates. “We will bring joint candidates against the government,” he said.

To a question, Ahsan said PML-N parliamentarians’ resignations would be tendered after the Senate elections. He said the resignations would be submitted at a time when the party would observe that it had become difficult for the parliament to function. “Our main goal is not tendering resignations but the conduct of new elections,” he added.

Ahsan Iqbal said that the government had forced the agricultural country to import food items. Today, the economic growth in the country had come to an end and the government was not even aware of it.

“This government is incompetent. There was a similar tragedy in May 2018, when the Hazara community demanded the then army chief to come and he went there without putting any condition to end hunger strike.

“But this time around, the prime minister did not go there on their call, but put his own conditions on the mourning families,” Ahsan said, adding the selected could not solve any national problem. The whole nation saw that he had no sympathy for the citizens of Pakistan. He said the prime minister of New Zealand went to console the Muslims after a terrorism incident, but she did not say she was blackmailed.

“I condemn Prime Minister Imran Niazi for not going to the Hazaras when they were calling him. Now he went to Quetta and he should be ashamed of it,” Ahsan added.

The PDM people went there and made the victims realise that they were not alone. However, the government made it an ego issue, though it was a humanitarian crisis, he added.

He said that the families of the martyrs of the Model Town tragedy met Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. He alleged that the same hands were behind Model Town tragedy, who had staged a long march of the PTI. He asked as to who had promised to bring those responsible for Model Town tragedy to book. He said for the past two-and-a-half years, the government had failed to do so.

He said the PTI foreign funding was part of the London Plan and Indian and Israeli funding was used to create unrest and political crisis in the country. He said Imran Khan and the PTI had been sitting on the NRO of foreign funding case for the past six years. He said how come a government, which itself was sitting on an NRO, could give an NRO to someone else.

“If the foreign funding case is decided on merit, the middle wicket of the PTI will fall,” Ahsan said and added that 100% members of all PDM parties had submitted their resignations to their leaderships.

“We will not give the government a free hand to damage the Constitution with a majority in the parliament,” he said while responding to a question. He said if Imran Khan completed his five years, the country would be in such a state that no one would be ready to become the prime minister. Therefore, it was a must to make 2021 an election year, he added.

Meanwhile, PML-N leader Khurram Dastagir, speaking to the media said that the party held a meeting today to discuss the upcoming by-elections.

"The resignations will be given after the Senate elections," he said, adding that they will be submitted at a time when the party considers the Parliament no longer functional.

Dastagir, clarifying the Opposition's stance, said that their aim was to hold transparent elections, not submit resignations.

However, he said that the Opposition would not back down from resigning. "These are the milestones to reach our goal and we will devise our strategy according to the situation at the time."

By-polls for Sindh Assembly’s PS-43 (Sanghar III) and PS-88 (Malir II) and Balochistan Assembly’s PB-20 (Pishin III) will be held on February 16, 2021, while the voters in NA-45 (Kurram I) and NA-75 (Sialkot IV) and Punjab Assembly’s PP-51 (Gujranwala I) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly’s PK-63 (Nowshera III) will elect their representatives on February 19, 2021.