"Count Your Days In Power,": PDM Leaders Tell PM Imran Khan

(@fidahassanain)

PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and many other PDM leaders have lashed out at Prime Minister Imran Khan by calling him "incompetent" and "selected".

GUJARANWALA: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-Oct 17th, 2020) The leaders of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on Friday held their first power show in Gujranwala, warning Prime Minister Imran Khan that his days in power have been numbered.

They said it was beginning of the end of PTI government which did not have mandate to come into power. They said that the PTI ruined the country's economy and failed to deliver as inflation touched the sky and the edibles of daily use went out of reach of a common man.

Addressing at Jinnah Stadium filled with thousands of political workers, PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz she stood for the businesses that had been destructed during the incumbent government’s tenure and the journalists who were being censored.

Maryam Nawaz said that people who stood with the truth were fired from their jobs.

“I am here to take up the case of Lady Health Workers as well before you who are languishing on the roads of Islamabad,” said Maryam Nawaz.

The public, Maryam said, had the right to oust or reject any government.

“All those who used call Sharif family as a “Sicilian Mafia” now have known what does that term mean,” said Maryam Nawaz.

She also stated that they just found “iqama” as a corruption against Nawaz Sharif, adding that they called Sharif family “Sicilian Mafia” but now they better know who actually was it.

Maryam also came down hard upon the PTI government for inflation and high prices, saying that one-time bread went out of the reach of the common man.

“The prices of food items have touched the sky,” said Maryam, adding that it was a tactic of the PTI government to ensure food items disappeared from the market. She stated that the food items returned to the market when the price touched the sky.

“Media have been suppressed by PTI government, and therefore, no talks about its corruption,” she stated.

Following the speech of Maryam Nawaz, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari took to the stage to lash out at PM Imran Khan and his government. He said the cricketer-turned-politician was not solution to the problems of the poor.

“Tiger force is the solution of this inflation this man Imran has given,” said Bilawal, criticizing him that Covid-19 solution was Tiger Force. “This is the solution he has to your problems,” he added.

He also said: “the selectors and the selected” will have to come on the Opposition's page otherwise they would have to go.

PM Imran Khan, Bilawal said, had promised, before he securing victory in the elections, to provide 5 million homes to the poor. He said that not a single person had been provided a home since the past two years that the government had been in power.

“He promised to end corruption but instead, broke all records of corruption,” said Bilawal. “Akbar S Babar [PTI founding member] says there is evidence his party has been funded from India but no one takes notice. “BRT is the most expensive project but no one takes notice,” aid Bilawal.

Criticizing PTI for not holding people accountable across-the-board, Bilawal said how Zardari, Faryal Talpur and Maryam Nawaz were sent to jail on mere allegations of corruption. “, No one asks questions about them if allegations are levelled at Imran and Aleema baji,” the PPP Chairman said.

JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the PDM's president, also addressed the rally and warned the PTI government that it’s time was up.

“Fake rulers are about to meet their fate,” said Maulana Fazl. “The sun of democracy is about to rise soon. If you remain undaunted, this government will not see the month of December,” the JUI-F Chief added.

The PDM president said that the anti-government movement had begun and now, a "sea of people" will rise in Karachi, Multan, Lahore and Peshawar in the coming days.

PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman at the Gujranwala jalsa. Photo: Twitter

Referring to the prime minister walking out without delivering a speech in the parliament on Friday, Fazl said that all it took was 15 parliamentarians to "scare away" PM Imran from the assembly.

“He boasts about having the majority in the parliament. Today, 15 members of the Opposition scared off the fake prime minister from the parliament,” said Maulana.

He lashed out at the government, blaming it for resorting to “political vendetta" in the name of holding the corrupt accountable. "Today, all political forces are standing on one platform,” he said.

Telling the public that it will have to come out to seek their rights, Fazl said that the PDM wanted to "hand back Pakistan's politics back to the people".

“ People have right to vote but this right has been stolen; it has been robbed,” said the JUI-F Chief. He stated that they wanted to restore this right to the people of Pakistan.

“People need to come out [and seek it],” he further said.

Fazl cited the example of the Soviet Union, adding that it was “eliminated from the world's map” due to its deteriorating economic situation. “Pakistan is not as strong [as the Soviet Union] that it will be able to maintain its existence [if such a scenario presents itself],” he added.

The JUI-F chief said that everyone knew who was responsible for stoking sectarian conflicts. He said that the JUI-F had always promoted religious harmony, calling on all parties to remain united. "All schools of thought have talked about harmony," he said.

“Our movement has begun, it will not stop now,” he said, adding that this movement will come to an end only when the supremacy of the law of the land is restored.

Fida Hussnain

Fida Hussnain is a lahore based journalist. He writes on politics, religion, social issues and climate change. He is also a research fellow at University of Gujrat.