Govt committee rejects demand for PM’s resignation

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak presided over meeting of the committee in Awan-e-Sadar and out rightly rejected opposition’s demand for the prime minister’s resignation. According to the reports, the committee meeting has out rightly rejected opposition’s demands for the prime minister’s resignation and mid-term polls. The committee has tasked its members to separately hold meetings with main opposition leaders from the JUI-F, Pakistan Muslim League-N (PMLN) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Punjab Assembly speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi would contact Maulana Fazlur Rehman while Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani has been tasked with contacting PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. The schedule for meetings with opposition leaders would be decided on Wednesday, the sources said. The seven-member government committee comprising Khattak, Asad Qaiser, Asad Umar, Elahi, Sadiq Sanjrani, Shafqat Mehmood and Noorul Haq Qadri was set up after Maulana Fazlur Rehman announced to a mount a march on Islamabad on October 31. The committee met at the Presidency under the chairmanship of Defence Minister Pervez Khattak. Other members of the body, acting president and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood, Religious Affairs Minister Noorul Haq Qadri and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Umar, were present at the meeting. The participants of the meeting discussed the opposition parties’ demands. They reiterated that the opposition’s demand for Prime Minister Imran Khan’s resignation was out of the question. The committee recognised the opposition parties’ right to hold a peaceful protest but noted that the situation in Kashmir as well as internal and regional challenges did not allow for an anti-government movement at this time. On the other hand, the Punjab government will launch a crackdown to stop Azadi March on October 24. The Punjab government has put the police on high alert. Large-scale arrests of the opposition leaders and workers will be made in the federal capital and three provinces. The authorities have finalized lists of leaders and workers to be arrested. The government has placed containers at NADRA Chowk to stop the participants from marching towards Red Zone. The Khyber Paktunkhwa government has shifted the containers to Swabi Interchange, Attock Bridge and GT Road, Peshawar. The roads will be blocked on October 27. Moreover, the police have started taking vehicles in custody to stop the Azadi March.