Daily Times

The Pakistan Democratic Movement’s long march scheduled for March 26 has been postponed as differences emerged within the alliance on the issue of resignations from assemblies alongside the protest.

Addressing a press conference after an hours-long meeting of the PDM in Islamabad, JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman said the PPP has ‘reservations’ over linking the resignations with the long march and has sought time to hold consultations within its Central Executive Committee (CEC) before informing the PDM of its decision. “We have given them the chance and we will await their decision. Until then, the March 26 long march will be considered postponed,” he said, and left the press conference ‘in anger’ following the announcement, and even did not stop when Maryam Nawaz called him out to take questions, leaving PML-N vice president ‘shocked, shattered and scorned’.

During the PDM meeting, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari reportedly asked PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif to come back to Pakistan. “Nawaz Sharif sahab, if you are prepared to fight a war, you will have to return to your country,” reports quoted Zardari as saying. “If we all are out to fight, then we must all be prepared to go to jail,” he further said to Nawaz. “Whether it is the long march or a no-confidence motion, you will have to come to Pakistan,” he continued. “I am ready for war but my domicile is different […] Mian sahab, you represent Punjab,” he further said. “While other opposition parties contested the Senate elections, Ishaq Dar did not even come to cast his vote. When you return to Pakistan, we will hand over our resignations to you,” he added.

Amid all insistence by the PPP co-chairman for Nawaz to return, Maryam Nawaz said that her father’s ‘life is danger’ and questioned how he can return under such circumstances. “Does Zardari sahab guarantee that my father’s life will not be in danger in Pakistan?” she asked, adding that she is in Pakistan ‘of her own accord’. “Just like you are on video link, so is Mian sahab,” she reportedly told Zardari.

According to reports, Zardari later apologised to Maryam, to which Maryam responded by saying, “It was never my intent to have you apologise. I merely considered myself to be like a daughter to you and registered a complaint like Bakhtawar or Aseefa would.”

Later addressing a press conference, Maryam denied such an exchange having taken place, saying, “No, that is not what he said. He simply said that Mian sahab you must come back and so must everyone else so we can struggle together.”

She said to this, she responded “very respectfully” by saying that Nawaz’s return to Pakistan “would be tantamount to handing his life over to killers which neither do the PML-N leaders want or the party’s vote bank”. “And neither do the people of Pakistan want this because the people invest in their leaders. People want leaders who are alive and well,” she said.

Maryam said that since she is much younger than the PPP president, she very respectfully added that “Mian sahab’s struggle and sacrifices are known to everyone and in this brutal and vengeful tenure of the incumbent government he spent the longest and harshest sentence in jail”.

She said that “even while knowing that it is revenge” he left his ailing wife behind in London and came back with his daughter to Pakistan to face a jail term “in a false case”. “He bravely served time in jail, even suffered heart attacks but bore them courageously. The government began to panic when his life was in danger and they sent him abroad. But now that he is abroad and is not fully well, as a daughter, I believe no one has the right to call him back. I do not think that after God’s mercy, when his life has been spared, it should be handed back to these killers,” Maryam said.

Maryam said that although Nawaz is abroad, his party is the most active in the country. “The entire party is united under his leadership, standing firm and fighting. I am Nawaz Sharif’s representative. Whosoever wishes to speak to him must first speak with me,” she added.

Yousaf Raza Gilani, taking over the briefing, said that he and his party had thanked everyone for the support during the Senate elections, in which he had defeated government-backed candidate Abdul Hafeez Shaik for the general seat from Islamabad. He said the March 26 long march has been “bracketed with the resignations” over which PPP has simply sought some time to consult the Central Executive Committee, as it had originally expressed reservations against the move.

Gilani said the PPP has said to PDM, “If you want us to hand in resignations, give us some time. We will go back to the CEC, take their approval and get back to you.”

He said that the CEC has previously expressed the view that the opposition’s move should come from the parliament. “Under the new scenario, the PDM leadership has unanimously told the PPP to approach the CEC,” Gilani said. He added that the decision will be announced ‘soon’.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad has made an offer to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif to provide him with a travel document if he decides to return to Pakistan. “Nawaz Sharif’s passport has expired and he cannot return to the country,” he said while offering that if the PML-N supremo desires to return, the government can provide him with a special certificate. “Nawaz Sharif cannot travel to any other country after the expiry of his passport,” the minister said. news desk