PDM chief Fazl asks PPP, ANP to revisit separation decision

PPP says sent its resignations to PDM chief

Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) President Maulana Fazlur Rehman asked the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Awami National Party (ANP) to revisit resignations from the opposition alliance.

Addressing a press conference after chairing an important meeting of the opposition alliance in Islamabad after resignations from PPP and ANP, Fazl said that both the parties still have time to reconsider their decision and contact the PDM.

The PDM chief said that PDM is an alliance of the 11 opposition parties, where decisions are made with the consensus and if any party found violating the consensus then it must be made answerable.

Both the parties had the opportunity to summon PDM meeting to give an explanation on the matter, but they decided to part ways with the alliance, he added.

Fazl asked the PDM allied parties to avoid getting involved in any baseless discussion. “Alliances to remain intact irrespective of who comes in and goes out,” he added.

Earlier, it emerged that the PPP submitted its resignations to the PDM on Tuesday, a day after a meeting of the party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) directed all its stalwarts to resign from their positions in the opposition alliance.

“Today, we submitted the resignations of our party leaders, Sherry Rehman, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Qamar Zaman Kaira, to [PDM president] Maulana Fazlur Rehman,” PPP leader Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, told a television channel.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, during a press conference on Monday, had said that the party had taken the decision to quit the multi-party alliance to protest the issuance of a show-cause notice to it and ANP.

The CEC meeting also rejected what Bilawal said was the “so-called show-cause notice”. “It has directed all its office bearers in the PDM to submit their resignations with immediate effect in protest to the attitude, conduct, and actions of other office-bearers within the alliance,” he had said.

On Tuesday, Bukhari, when asked if PDM leadership could remove the PPP from the alliance, said that the PPP had “laid the foundation for the PDM”.

“No political party [in the PDM] has the jurisdiction to remove us [from the alliance]. There is no mention of this in the 26-point charter [of the PDM],” he added.

While PPP effectively quit the alliance, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz insisted it was still intact and committed to a big cause. She further said that PDM chief Fazl would have a final word on its fate.

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