LAHORE: The PPP plays down the importance of the opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement, without it as well the Awami National Party (ANP).

“The worth of the PDM will be no more than a WhatsApp group without the PPP and the ANP,” the parliamentary leader of the party in Punjab Assembly, Hassan Murtaza, said on Sunday.

The PDM had, during its May 29 meeting in Islamabad, formally ousted the two opposition parties from its fold though alliance chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman was empowered to retract the decision after contacting leadership of both the parties.

Mr Murtaza wondered why the PDM meeting didn’t discuss resignations of its parliamentarians from all the elected houses, an issue the PPP had been opposing. He demanded that those who had sought an explanation from the PPP [on violation of PDM discipline in Senate polls] should explain their position on not giving resignations from the assemblies.

The PPP leader said ‘double standards’ of two parties (PML-N and JUI-F) in the opposition alliance were weakening the PDM’s struggle against the government.

Criticising the PTI government for its ‘flawed’ policies, the PPP leader feared that a further increase in the prices of medicines could lead to some human tragedy. He said his party would give a tough time to the government during the forthcoming budget session and it would protect rights of the masses as its leadership in the parliament was the only hope of the inflation-stricken people.

Meanwhile, the Punjab PPP leaders, including Aslam Gill and Usman Malik, have cautioned the PML-N and JUI-F against offering advice to them.

In a joint statement, they said those seeing fissures in their own parties were counseling the PPP on what to do.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2021