Daily Times

Maryam Nawaz, the PML-N vice president, has accepted the invitation to attend the All Parties Conference (APC) scheduled to be held on June 26.

PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said that Maryam Nawaz had received a personal invitation over the telephone from Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

In May, during Ramazan, leaders of the opposition parties had announced their plans to launch protests inside and outside the parliament after Eidul Fitr and hold an APC to chalk out a joint strategy on how to tackle the problems facing Pakistan.

The much-anticipated announcement for its date came late Saturday night in a statement issued by the JUI-F spokesperson.

Senior party members of the PPP, PML-N, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and Awami National Party (ANP) are all expected to attend the conference.

The meeting shall be chaired by the JUI-F chief during which important decisions regarding the joint strategy shall be made, including a possible “lockdown” against the government.

Among other items on the agenda will be a change in the Senate leadership and the passing of the recently presented budget for 2019-20.

Furthermore, it will be debated upon whether the opposition will accept the Commission of Inquiry formed by Prime Minister Imran Khan, for which the terms of reference were announced on Friday. The venue for the conference is yet to be announced.

Maraym Nawaz also rejected the rumors of differences among the Sharif family.

“My yesterday’s press conference was taken out of context, Sharif family is united and there are no differences,” said PML-N leader in a statement.

She said that Shehbaz Sharif was a party president and every decision of party was finalised after taking him into confidence.

“In my press conference I just highlighted the incompetence of the government which has made the economy a ‘joke’,” she said while clarifying his comments regarding meesaq-e-maeeshat” (charter of economy) offer as “mazaq-e-maeeshat.”

Earlier on Saturday, Maryam Nawaz said that she considered the “meesaq-e-maeeshat” (charter of economy) offer as “mazaq-e-maeeshat”.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Maryam Nawaz maintained offering charter of economy to Imran Khan was like giving him an NRO. “The PM, due to his incompetence, caused irreparable damage to the economy and now wants opposition to become a part of his failure on economic front.”

“This guy (Imran Khan) not only stole a whole election but is now ruining the economy due to his incompetence so he wants opposition’s stamp on his failing economic policies that we should never provide him, he (Imran Khan) should be made an example,” Maryam Nawaz had said.