KARACHI: Opposition parties led by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) on Friday under their ‘Plan C’ announced holding a series of protest demonstrations across Sindh, starting on November 26 outside the Election Commission of Pakistan’s regional office in Karachi before moving to other parts of the province.

The future strategy of the opposition’s protest campaign was decided at a multiparty conference (MPC) convened by the JUI-F at a local hotel. The decisions taken in the MPC were shared with the media at a press conference held at the Karachi Press Club.

The leaders denied an impression that their movement against the government lost pace following “relief” to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, saying they had only changed the strategy.

“We can never back out from our promise of sending the government packing,” said senior JUI-F leader Rashid Mahmood Soomro. “The principal decisions are taken by the Rehber Committee, which has a consensus mandate of all the opposition parties. According to those decisions, we devise our strategy and under the same mechanism, we are now launching our ‘Plan C’ in Sindh, where we will be holding protest demonstrations.”

He said the opposition parties had decided to stage a “power show” on Nov 26 outside the ECP office in Saddar seeking the institution’s role against the alleged rigging in the July 25, 2018 elections and its ongoing probe in the foreign funding case where the State Bank of Pakistan had already identified 23 accounts of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in the name of various party leaders, which the party had hidden from the ECP and the public.

“Then we will be holding a massive ‘Azadi March Conference’ on November 28 in Sukkur, which would be addressed by leaders of all opposition parties,” said Mr Soomro. “Our movement is not for relief for any individual but for the relief of each and every person in the country, which this government can never provide and that’s why we want their removal.”

Former Sindh governor and Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Mohammad Zubair also shared his thoughts with the media and expressed concerns mainly over the recent economic crisis.

He said that he feared the middle class of the country had been wiped out due to inflation and the situation would further worsen if the PTI government and its economic team were allowed to complete their term.

Waqar Mehdi, a senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and an adviser to Sindh chief minister, also spoke. He said that the government had not only lost its moral ground due to performance but it had also crushed all human values, playing with lives of political opponents and victimising the elected leaders of opposition parties.

“They [PTI government and its leaders] don’t know the meaning of politics and never have been among the people,” he said. “They were selected to deliver certain things and achieve certain targets. For that they can go to any extent. Their existence is a threat to the lives of millions of poor people, who have always been served by democracy and not under any other system.”

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2019