PPP to fight fascist govt in parliament, on streets: Raja Pervaiz

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has said the PPP believes in democracy and has defeated every despotic government with its democratic actions.

“The PPP will fight this fascist government in the parliament and on the streets,” he said while addressing a press conference at the PPP Media Office in Islamabad with PPP Chief Media Coordinator Nazir Dhoki on Wednesday.

He said it was the PPP which convinced all political parties in the PDM to take part in the by-elections and the PDM won in all the four provinces. “In Senate elections, we defeated the selected government in the National Assembly and won a Senate seat from Islamabad,” he said.

He said the PDM was also going to win the chairman Senate slot but the biased presiding officer illegally rejected seven votes of PDM candidate Yusuf Raza Gillani. “We are going to challenge this in court,” he said. “All decisions taken by the PDM on the advice of the PPP proved correct and mature,” he said.

He said resignations are not the first or second option but are the last option to send this government packing. “The PPP will exhaust all parliamentary options available,” he said, adding that it is very unfortunate that the selected government has attacked a constitutional institution, the Election Commission of Pakistan. He said the PPP condemned baseless accusations against the ECP by Imran Khan and his ministers. “All democratic forces are standing by the ECP,” he said.

The former prime minister said there is no fault of the ECP if Imran Khan lost all by-elections and Senate elections. He said the name of the opposition leader in the Senate will be announced after deliberations. The PPP wants to bring a no-confidence motion in Punjab. “The PTI government failed to show any performance and all the promises made to people proved nothing but lies,” he said.

He said people are against this selected government because it has given nothing but price hike, poverty and unemployment. “The selected government has destroyed the country’s economy,” he said and added: “We had all preparations ready for the long march but when the resignations were bracketed with the long march, the PPP asked for time to consult its CEC.” He said the PDM was formed by the efforts of the PPP and its leadership. “We will inform the PDM about the decision of the CEC,” he said.