PML-N wants JUI-F's long march deferred till November 'for better mobilisation'

Published September 30, 2019
PML-N Ahsan Iqbal speaks to reporters in Lahore on Monday. — DawnNewsTV

— DawnNewsTV/File
PML-N Ahsan Iqbal speaks to reporters in Lahore on Monday. — DawnNewsTV — DawnNewsTV/File

The PML-N on Monday formed a committee to hold consultations with the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and other opposition parties before committing to a final date for their anti-government protest.

The committee's formation was announced by senior PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal, who was speaking to reporters after a meeting of the party's Central Executive Committee (CEC) chaired by its president, Shahbaz Sharif, in Lahore.

He said the PML-N will cooperate with every movement that is aimed at bringing down the PTI government, including the JUI-F's proposed long march scheduled for October.

However, Iqbal said a majority of the participants of the meeting had agreed that the protest should be deferred until November because the PML-N needed to "fully mobilise" its ranks for any anti-government movement. In this regard, the party has formed divisional committees to speed up mobilisation efforts.

He said the party will recommend to the JUI-F to immediately call an 'all-parties conference' of the opposition to take other parties on board to make the protest a success.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had last month announced that his party planned a "decisive" long march aimed at ousting the present government in October.

He had warned the government against making any effort to disrupt the planned march and expressed hope that people "from all walks of life and from all over the country" will reach Islamabad to participate in what he called an "Azadi March" to free the country of the present "incompetent and illegitimate government".

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