ISLAMABAD: The PPP does not support the demand made by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s resignation, the leader of opposition in the National Assembly, Syed Khursheed Shah, has said.

“The PPP cannot support the demand and I believe that Prime Minister Sharif will not resign,” he said in a statement on Friday.

PTI chairman Imran Khan has called for Mr Sharif’s resignation and said participants of his long march on Islamabad will stay in the capital until the demand is met.

Know more: Islamabad sit-in begins: Resign and call re-elections, Imran tells Nawaz

Mr Shah condemned clash in Gujranwala between workers of the ruling PML-N and the PTI and said strict action should be taken against those responsible for the attack on convoy of the opposition party. He urged the PML-N workers to refrain from creating an untoward situation. “In such circumstances, miscreants can create trouble to meet their designs,” he said.

In a separate statement, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari criticised the attack on Mr Khan’s convoy and described it as an “unacceptable demonstration of intolerance to political dissent”.

“Such a display of intolerance will only worsen the situation,” he warned.

Mr Zardari called for an inquiry into the attack, arrest of the culprits, and their punishment as per the law.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2014