ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday met Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and decided to adopt a joint strategy against the PTI-led federal government in Parliament.
The PPP chairman visited Rehman’s residence in Islamabad today along with Gilani and senior PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira. Bilawal inquired about the JUI-F chief’s health and discussed the country’s political situation with him. It was their first meeting since the PPP quit opposition alliance PDM.
“Joint action in parliament on EVM and accountability laws can lead to more successes. The government’s policies can only be foiled through the parliament,” Bilawal was quoted as saying during the meeting.
Addressing a press conference later, Bilawal Bhutto said that the government, nowadays, was “facing defeat everyday”. “The government was unsuccessful in introducing its own bill in the National Assembly and the Opposition was able to introduce their bill,” he said.
Bilawal said it was another success for the joint opposition that the government had to cancel the joint session of parliament summoned for Thursday and “the prime minister was forced to run away because all political parties in parliament were united and present.”
The PPP chairman said that the Opposition had thwarted the government’s efforts to bulldoze legislation on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) ordinance and electronic voting machines (EVMs) and would be successful in the future too.
Bilawal said that the Opposition had dealt the government a defeat through the use of democratic conventions. “The entire Opposition was united and strong in Parliament,” he said, adding that this is what the people expect of it as well.
Taking over the presser, Maulana Fazl asserted that the opposition was playing a united role in the parliament in light of the difficulties being faced by the nation.
“Whatever their suggestions are, we are not ready to accept them at any cost. If the government carries out legislation through a false majority then we will liken it to a dictatorial action — this is not the way of the parliament,” Rehman emphasised.
Questioned on the PPP potentially returning to the PDM or supporting a no-confidence motion against the government, both Bilawal and Fazl said those issues had not been discussed in the meeting.
