PESHAWAR
\nPrime Minister Imran Khan will not get a chance to escape when the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) reaches Islamabad, the Opposition alliance\u2019s chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said Saturday.
\n\u201cWe will shut down the roads when we reach Islamabad, not the government,\u201d Fazl said, addressing a rally in Peshawar alongside other PDM leaders, without specifying when the alliance would march towards the capital.
\nThe Peshawar rally was a part of a series of protests by PDM, which included demonstrations in Karachi and Quetta earlier this month. The Opposition alliance will now head towards Lahore and then Islamabad \u2014 but the dates are yet to be announced.
\n\u201cWe will keep fighting till the government drowns in the sea,\u201d the PDM chief said, adding that the current setup had \u201cdamaged the country\u2019s Islamic identity\u201d.
\nHe claimed that that the Opposition, ahead of a joint sitting of the parliament, \u201creceived threatening phone calls demanding that votes for the passage of bills be given in favour of the government\u201d.
\nFazl said the Opposition alliance has not demanded local body elections, rather it wants to hold general elections immediately \u2014 which are originally scheduled to take place in 2023.
\nThe PDM chief, referring to the 2018 general elections, said the \u201cstolen\u201d votes of the people should be returned to them, alleging that the government has \u201cmade arrangements to rig the next elections once more\u201d.
\nThe Opposition has been persistent that the government \u201cformed the basis for rigging\u201d in the next elections when it bulldozed 33 bills in Wednesday\u2019s joint Parliament sitting, including crucial bills related to the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and granting voting rights to overseas Pakistanis.
\nThe joint Opposition has warned that it will move the Supreme Court against the legislation in the Parliament, with the government asking it to sit on the negotiation table instead.
\n\u2018These are not the people\u2019s representatives\u2019
\nFor his part, PML-N leader and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the incumbent government was \u201cnot the people\u2019s representative\u201d.
\nThe former premier said the \u201cevents that led to the rigging of the 2018 elections\u201d were gradually coming to light, as he reminded the people that former chief justice of Gilgit-Baltistan Rana Shamim had blamed ex-chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar for \u201cplaying a part in rigging\u201d the polls.
\nAbbasi said the government would now \u201crig\u201d the next general elections, just like it had \u201crigged\u201d the Daska by-elections. \u201cThe legislation done in the Parliament will not resolve the country\u2019s problems,\u201d he added.
\nThe former premier said when the rulers are \u201coblivious to the people\u2019s suffering, then they are not fit to rule\u201d and should step down from office.
\nHe reiterated that the government had granted an NRO (concession under the National Reconciliation Ordinance) to Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav by passing a law in this week\u2019s joint parliamentary sitting that allows him the right to review and reconsideration, in line with orders from the International Court of Justice.
\nPakistan cannot prosper until the country runs in line with the constitution, he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PESHAWAR Prime Minister Imran Khan will not get a chance to escape when the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) reaches Islamabad, the Opposition alliance\u2019s chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said Saturday. \u201cWe will shut down the roads when we reach Islamabad, not the government,\u201d Fazl said, addressing a rally in Peshawar alongside other PDM leaders, without specifying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[269,470,469],"class_list":{"0":"post-228515","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-fazlur-rehman","9":"tag-pakistan-democratic-movement","10":"tag-pdm"},"yoast_head":"\n