Maulana Fazl convenes PDM meeting on April 29

Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) President and JUI-F supremo Maulana Fazlur Rehman has convened a meeting of PDM bigwigs on April 29 in Islamabad to chalk out future strategy after PPP and ANP parted ways, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Sunday, quoting sources.

The sources claimed the meeting will be chaired by Maulana Fazlur Rehman and the decisions of the steering committee will be given the final nod.

The TV channel sources claimed that the PDM has not invited PPP and ANP in the April 29 meeting of heads of the opposition parties of the PDM alliance.

Maulana Fazl has already called a meeting of the Steering Committee on April 26.

On April 11, the main opposition ally PPP had parted ways with the PDM after the latter served it a show-cause notice. PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had later announced that the PPP Central Executive Committee (CEC) had called upon its members to resign from all positions of the PDM.

The 11-party anti-government alliance saw serious rifts among its own ranks on the issue surfaced after the Senate elections.

The PDM had ‘decided’ last month that the PPP will get the slot of chairman Senate while deputy chairman will go to JUI-F and the PML-N will get the office of the leader of Opposition.

But the PPP maintained that it got the majority seats in opposition and the Opposition Leader seat was its right.

Former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was elected as Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House of parliament getting the required votes.

The PML-N accused the PPP of getting Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), a government ally, votes to get the seat.

Ruling PTI ministers termed the rift and parting way of PPP and ANP from PDM alliance as obvious result of ‘unnatural alliance’.

Reporter Usman Khan