Nawaz, Zardari, Fazl discuss ‘future’ after Senate loss

ISLAMABAD   –  Senior leadership of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has agreed to accelerate their anti-government movement.

According to political sources, Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Saturday held telephonic conversation to discuss PDM’s loss in election for Senate Chairman and Deputy Chairman and the future line of action.

At one hand, the three leaders agreed to find out the reasons behind their loss in the elections while on the other, they have decided to give tough time to the government in the coming days through long march and other anti-government moves, according to the sources. 

The leadership also discussed preparations for the PDM’s upcoming long march. The sources said, during the conversation, PDM chief Fazl insisted the other leaders to go for en masse resignation as he believed that there was no point in holding a long march without the opposition parties resigning en masse from the assemblies.

The 11-parties opposition alliance is also holding an all-party conference on Monday (tomorrow) to review the Senate debacle. All parties have been directed to send their leaders to the conference. The meeting will discuss the political situation and take the senior leadership into confidence over why 7 votes were rejected in polling for the Senate chairman position, according to the sources.

They said the JUI-F has expressed its concerns over Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri getting lesser votes in the Senate deputy chairman slot. The PDM leadership will also address the concerns raised by the JUI-F in this regard, according to the sources. Modalities for the March 26 long march will also be given a final shape in the meeting.

As the long march looms ahead, the government and the opposition parties have upped verbal onslaught against each other. The government is casting doubt, seemingly on purpose, on the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) internal cohesion, saying the PML-N senators didn’t vote for Gilani. Special Assistant to Prime Minister Shehbaz Gill reacting to the developments on the political front on Friday also questioned internal unity of the PML-N as well.

He taunted that the PDM’s long march would be a competition between its two young leaders-in-waiting; Maryam Nawaz and Hamza Shehbaz. On the other hand, the opposition parties have accused the government of stealing the Senate elections. Political temperature in the country is likely to go up in the coming days as both the treasury and opposition up the ante on each other ahead of the planned long march.

Meanwhile, PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Saturday rejected rumours that PML-N senators did not vote for opposition’s candidate in Friday’s elections held for the slots of Senate chairperson and deputy chairperson.

When asked that there were reports of PML-N senators having abstained from voting for Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) nominees for the top Senate slots, Bilawal said: “Everyone showed loyalty.”

“I know, we all know, that we won [Senate seats] because of PDM’s unity,” he said, adding that the recent Upper House polls “washed the stain of the past Senate elections.”

The top leadership of the PPP met in Islamabad on Saturday to discuss their candidate Yousaf Raza Gilani’s shock defeat in polls held a day earlier for the Senate chairman’s position.

Party co-chairs Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari met with Gilani to discuss the 7 votes rejected by the presiding officer in the polls for the Senate chair and finalise a way forward. The party has decided to take the matter to the Islamabad High Court, a local news channel reported.

The PPP leadership also formed a legal team comprising Farooq H. Naek, Nayyar Bukhari and Lateef Khosa to look into the matter and devise the party’s legal strategy.  “The theft of 7 votes is a failed attempt to divide the Pakistan Democratic Movement,” Bilawal said after the meeting. “The PPP should not be considered weak. We will challenge the theft of our votes within and outside Parliament and on every forum,” he said. “PDM will challenge the vote thieves vigorously,” he said.