Establishment not behind PDM, says Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

KARACHI: Rejecting the notion that the establishment was behind the Pakistan Democratic Movement, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s central leader and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday said that the alliance of opposition parties was set to fight tooth and nail to uphold the supremacy of Constitution and prevent the country from being governed by incompetent rulers.

Talking to the media on his arrival at the Karachi Airport to attend the PDM’s rally in Hyderabad, Abbasi said that the ongoing anti-government campaign does not need the support of the establishment. He termed the PDM as the first movement in the country that has been running without the establishment’s support.

Abbasi said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) also on Monday said that the military has no interference in the country’s politics. “But they [ISPR] should also bring forward evidence about it.”

He said PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz will not attend the PDM rally in Hyderabad because her daughter had sustained injuries in a road accident. Abbasi suggested that instead of involving in discussion on the previous elections and movements, a truth commission should be formed to unveil the hidden facts.

“All political parties should decide that what had happened in the country should come before the people. This will also help avoid repetition of blunders committed in the past,” said the PML-N leader.

Abbasi said that his party does not want to become part of an outdated system by bringing a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly.He said the PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif will return to the country after completing his medical treatment. He said that residents of other countries are being allowed to contest elections.“Secret voting takes place all over the world and the opposition parties have a principled stand on the show of hands in the Senate polls,” he said.