SWAT: Leaders of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) have said that the opposition alliance has been created to free the country from the clut­ches of non-democratic forces and restore true democracy and supremacy of parliament.

They were speaking at a public meeting at Grassy Ground here on Sunday. PDM president and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, PML-N president and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, the party’s provincial president Amir Muqam, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party president Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Qaumi Watan Party chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, JUI-F MNA Asadur Rehman, Senator Sajid Mir and Senator Tahir Bizenjo addressed the gathering.

Fazl, Shehbaz, Achakzai slam Imran-led govt at opposition alliance’s Swat rally

The PDM president said he was impressed by the huge public gathering, terming it the revival of the movement. He said Imran Khan was a “fake and illegal prime minister” who did not know the ABC of running a government. “I have said many times that Imran Khan is an unnecessary part of Pakistani politics and a creation of western civilisation. His value can be gauged from the fact that he was not even invited to the closed-door meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security,” he said.

Maulana Fazl said the Imran-led government had completely failed on both internal and external fronts. “Today the United States has been defeated in Afghanistan and is withdrawing its forces from the country, but Imran Niazi is still sleeping. He left the country alone in the world by his policies,” he said, adding that Mr Khan was a man of U-turns and earned the title of the ‘untrustworthy man’ who deceived the nation but his deceits and hypocrisy would no more be acceptable as the nation has now recognised his real face.

The PDM chief said it was an unconstitutional rule supported by some institutions. “I warn those institutions to refrain from backing this illegitimate rule as they would also be considered criminals in the history,” he said, adding that the nation had to move forward for constitutional future. “I will stand like a rock and lead the rebellion against the unconstitutional rule,” he said, asking to the international community to understand the ‘fake democracy’ in Pakistan.

Shehbaz Sharif said the ‘incompetent PM’, who never got tired of making claims to bring change by generating millions of jobs, making the daily use items cheaper, freeing the country from the clutches of the IMF, had brought the nation to the verge of collapse.

“Imran Khan would claim to generate ten million jobs but made millions of people unemployed. He claimed that he would construct 5m houses for poor people but could not give a single brick to them,” he said.

The PML-N president said PM Khan had changed the country into a “very strange new Pakistan” where there was no employment, no electricity, no medicines and no oxygen in hospitals, and where unemployment increased and prices of every essential item went up.

“PM Imran Khan’s seat in the National Assembly remains as vacant as the pocket of a poor person. The PM remains absent from the assembly regularly which means he has no value for the people of this country,” he said.

The opposition leader claimed that during the era of Nawaz Sharif everything was provided free in the hospitals of Punjab, students were given laptops and manifold facilities. “It was Nawaz Sharif who took the country out of darkness by generating 14,000MW electricity and ended the 20 hours of loadshedding in 2014.”

He said Imran Khan had claimed that 350 dams would be constructed to provide cheaper electricity but today electricity was so expensive that poor people could not afford it. He said that during the last three years the country was looted in every sector. “This is not that Pakistan which was established with the sacrifices of the poor people. The old Pakistan was far superior and better than the new Pakistan.”

Shehbaz Sharif also mentioned Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and said it was not only the most expensive and delayed project but also the most substandard. “Had it been constructed under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif, it would not only have a speedy and cheaper project but also far better than the present one,” he said.

He asked the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa not to repeat the mistake of electing the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf once again and said if the people did not realise their mistake and once again elected PM Imran Khan then he was sure that the country would completely collapse.

Mahmood Khan Achakzai said Pakistan was not obtained in a charity but established by the unlimited sacrifices of people. “Pakistan was established to be a democratic state in the world, but it is now in the clutches of non-democratic forces. PDM has been established to restore rule of law, democracy and supremacy of parliament and PDM would be transformed into a revolution, like an Iranian revolution,” he said, adding that under the umbrella of the PDM the country would soon be freed from the clutches of non-democratic forces.

The speakers said Imran Khan was a “puppet prime minister” and the PDM would never accept a puppet premier.

Amir Muqam welcomed the PDM leadership to Swat and said the country was in the “hands of incompetent leadership” who completely destroyed it. “We understand that if this incompetent PM Imran Khan stays more, he would sell the country to IMF as he does not know how to run the country. This is why we are standing united to save this country,” he said, adding that due to the government’s wrong policies and historical price hikes, the poor people were compelled to commit suicide and that was why they came out to oust the incompetent leadership.

Aftab Khan Sherpao said the PTI government was not for the people of the country as Imran Khan did not know about the public issues. “Imran Khan can never make Pakistan a prosperous country as he just wanted the chair of the premiership and this is why he failed to address the issues of people,” he said, adding that due to the premier’s incompetency and wrong policies the poor people were committing suicide due to extreme poverty.

The PDM leaders announced that they would gather in Karachi and show the power on July 29 to the “fake rulers”.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2021