ISLAMABAD, March 31: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML- N) is annoyed with the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) supporting and participating in the strike called by Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (Ponam) on Thursday, a source told Dawn. A senior office-bearer of the PML-N on Thursday told Dawn that by participating in Ponam’s strike, the PPP had violated the decision taken at a meeting of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) held in Islamabad on March 28.
The PML-N leader said that the ARD had only “agreed in principle” to support the strike calls of Ponam and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) for March 31 and April 2, respectively, but it was decided that the alliance would not practically participate in any of the calls.
However, he said, soon after the meeting, the PPP, a leading component of the ARD, separately announced its support for the Ponam strike call for Thursday. The PML-N leader, who is also an important office-bearer of the ARD, said that in the alliance’s meeting his party leaders had pressed for supporting both Ponam and the MMA’s strike calls, but the PPP showed its reluctance to extend any support to the MMA. As the ARD did not want to annoy the MMA and Ponam, he said, it was decided that the ARD would extend support to both of them but it would not participate in their strike calls.
He was of the view that Ponam leaders would definitely be unhappy with the PML-N for not taking part in their strike despite the fact that the party wanted to fully participate in it.
“The PPP has put us in an awkward position,” he said. Replying to a question, the PML-N leader said that his party was also not bound to follow the ARD’s decision and it would fully participate in the MMA’s April 2 strike call.
When contacted for official comment, PPP spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar said the party supported Ponam within the 1973 Constitution as no decision on the issue could have been taken in the ARD meeting.
When told that the PML-N had also decided to participate in the MMA’s strike call as the PPP had violated the ARD’s decision, Mr Babar said: “They (the PML-N men) have found a good excuse for their already decided move to support the MMA.”