Opposition parties have announced their intention to launch a protest movement against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government under the umbrella of the newly formed Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

The consensus was reached at a multi-party conference organised by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on September 20 in Islamabad. Shahbaz Sharif, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly; Bilawal Bhutto, the Pakistan Peoples Party chairman; and Maulana Fazlur Rahman, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam leader were prominent among the participants.

Top leaders of PML-N, JUI-F, National Party, PPP-Sherparo and Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement including Maryam Nawaz and her husband Capt Safdar Awan, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Dr Abdul Maalik, Mohsin Dawar, Aftab Sherpao, Jamaldini and Awais Noorani attended the eight-hour event. Jamaat-i-Islami was the only major opposition party that stayed away.

The opposition parties had been on the back foot ever since the passage of the FATF-related legislation in the latest joint session of the parliament. Given the unrelenting pressure from the National Accountability Bureau, analysts said, the PPP and the PML-N were left with no other choice.

While this is not the first time opposition parties have tried to launch a protest movement against the Imran Khan government, their tone has never been so harsh and their ambitions never so lofty.

The gathering caused ripples across the political scene on account of the online address of PML chief Nawaz Sharif, who came out swinging against the establishment after two-years of relative silence. The former PM surprised many by openly accusing the establishment of bringing Imran Khan to power through a rigged general election. Sharif also accused a former corps commander of conspiring to oust the PML-N government in Balochistan in 2016.

Saying the country was doing poorly and had lost much prestige globally he put it down to a lack of respect for the will of the people as enunciated through vote.

He called on the political parties and their leaders to seize the moment and oust what he called an inept and non-representative government. He rejected the government’s claim that the opposition leaders were corrupt and making noises only to bargain for immunity from accountability. He said the government’s commitment to transparency and accountability stood exposed as several of its leaders had been shown to have benefited from shady deals but were not being subjected to the same treatment as opposition leaders.

Former president Asif Ali Zardari, who also addressed the conference via video link, said he hoped that the opposition will send the government packing and restore democracy. He said major parties had never accepted the government’s claim to legitimacy from the start. Still, he said, they had tried hard to protect democratic institutions. However, he said, it was now clear that the government had no intention to restore democratic institutions. He said the conference represented the voice of all ethnic groups in Pakistan. The party leaders assembled at the platform, he said, were committed not only to ousting the unpopular government but also to the establishment of democratic order. Zardari said the 18^th Amendment was a protective wall around the Constitution. He said he hoped that the Constitution would not be attacked again.

The online address by Pakistan Muslim League chief Nawaz Sharif, who came out swinging against the establishment after two-years of relative silence, caused ripples. The former prime minister surprised many by openly accusing the establishment of bringing Imran Khan to power through rigged elections.

The participants agreed to a 26-point resolution outlining their demands. They also announced a plan of action against the government in a press conference.

The salient demands included an end to establishment’s interference in politics; free and fair elections following suitable electoral reforms; denying a role to armed forces and intelligence agencies in the political process; release of political prisoners; withdrawal of false cases against journalists; implementation of the National Action Plan against terrorism; speeding up of the projects under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor; and across the board accountability under a new accountability law. They said countrywide public meetings would start from next month and protest demonstrations would be held in December. A long march to Islamabad will start in January 2021.

The government leaders responded essentially by slamming the opposition particularly Nawaz Sharif for his hard-hitting address.

Federal Minister Ali Zaidi said Sharif had declared war on Pakistani people. He insisted that the government had been voted into power in free and fair elections. Federal Minister Asad Umar said the people had given the PTI a clear mandate in the 2018 polls. He said the unequivocal nature of the judgment against his party had forced Sharif to flee the country.

Information Minister Shibli Faraz called the meeting a flimsy attempt to pressure the government to back off on accountability. He said the prime minister and the government was committed to hold the corrupt among former rulers accountable and would never settle for less. He said the fact that Sharif’s address was allowed to be broadcast live showed that there were no restrictions on freedom of expression in Pakistan.

On September 22, controversy erupted over reports that former Sindh governor, Muhammad Zubair, a PML-N leader had held two meetings with Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa in recent weeks. Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj-Gen Babar Iftikhar said the meetings were “requested” by Zubair. He said Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt-Gen Faiz Hameed had been present during the meetings.

The conference is unlikely to bring about a visible change in the political landscape any time soon. The plan of action announced by the opposition parties represents a traditional mode of politics.

The writer is a senior journalist based in   Islamabad. He can be reached at farooq.azam.awan@gmail.com