'We will continue fighting till the govt drowns in the sea', Fazl tells rally

Peshawar: Pakistan Democratic Movement Chief Maulana Fazalur Rehman vowed on Saturday to keep fighting till the government drowns in the sea, saying the incumbant regime has damaged the Islamic identity of the country.

"Prime Minister Imran Khan will not get a chance to escape when the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) reaches Islamabad, the Opposition alliance's chief told a PDM rally in Pshawar.

"We will shut down the roads when we reach Islamabad, not the government," Fazl said without specifying when the alliance would march towards the capital.

The 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 but the dates are yet to be announced.

He claimed that that the Opposition, ahead of a joint sitting of the parliament, "received threatening phone calls demanding that votes for the passage of bills be given in favour of the government".

Fazl said the Opposition alliance has not demanded local body elections, rather it wants to hold general elections immediately, which are originally scheduled to take place in 2023.

The PDM chief, referring to the 2018 general elections, said the "stolen" votes of the people should be returned to them, alleging that the government has "made arrangements to rig the next elections once more".

The Opposition has been persistent that the government "formed the basis for rigging" in the next elections when it bulldozed 33 bills in Wednesday's joint Parliament sitting, including crucial bills related to the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and granting voting rights to overseas Pakistanis.

The 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.

Speaking on the occasion, PML-N leader and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the incumbent government was "not the people's representative".

He said the "events that led to the rigging of the 2018 elections" 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 "playing a part in rigging" the polls.

Abbasi said the government would now "rig" the next general elections, just like it had "rigged" the Daska by-elections. "The legislation done in the Parliament will not resolve the country's problems," he added.

He said when the rulers are "oblivious to the people's suffering, then they are not fit to rule" and should step down from office.

Abbasi 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's joint parliamentary sitting that allows him the right to review and reconsideration, in line with orders from the International Court of Justice.