PTI, JI, other Opposition parties unite for struggle to restore democracy

• PTI chief Gohar Khan, JI's Liaquat Baloch attend meeting.
• Consultative meeting hosted by Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen.
• Parties join hands to protect Constitution and democracy.

ISLAMABAD: Opposition parties including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Sunni Ittehad Council, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and other like-minded groups have united to launch a joint struggle for the supremacy of the Constitution and restoration of democracy.

In a consultative meeting hosted by the Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) in Islamabad, all parties joined hands under the same roof to protect the Constitution and democracy from threats, as the state system and democracy remain paralysed due to intervention, their statement read.

The meeting was attended by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Omar Ayub, Asad Qaiser and Raoof Hasan; Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party's Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Abdul Rahim Ziyaratwal, Sardar Shafiq Khan Tareen and Riaz Khan.

Politicians of the Balochistan National Party included Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal, Sajid Khan and Tarin Parviz Zohoor, while Jamaat-e-Islami leadership comprised Liaquat Baloch and Amir-ul-Azeem.

SIC’s Sahibzada Muhammad Raza as well as MWM’s Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafari, Syed Asad Abbas Naqvi and Nasir Shirazi Mohsin Shehryar were also present in the meeting.

During the meeting, the Opposition parties' leadership expressed their deep concern over the increasing involvement of the establishment in politics and termed it as a threat to the security of the country and national institutions.

"The establishment’s unconstitutional political role and interference has created a terrible distance between the people and the state," it was emphasised. The leaders then decided that there was a need for a joint struggle to achieve these objectives and also contact other parties of Pakistan in view of these objectives.

The meeting agreed on the basic principles of complete restoration of the Constitution, rule of law, complete restoration of democracy through free and fair elections, independence of the judiciary and civil supremacy. It noted that there were major threats to the country’s future.

"Today’s meeting understands the fundamental reason for all the crises of the country and the deviation from the unanimous Constitution of the country and the disregard to the elected parliament of millions of people.

"That the Constitution will be protected and defended at all costs and there will be no compromise on it and that the real source and centre of the formation of Pakistan’s internal and external affairs will be the truly elected parliament of the people. No decision will be accepted and no one will be allowed to do so without the will and approval of parliament," the leaders declared.

In the meeting, the politicians rejected the "changed" results of the general elections of February 8, 2024, and condemned the manipulation done "hypocritically". The politicians also shared their displeasure over the "fake" government imposed on the people.

The forum declared that the present "fake" government has been provided with artificial stability by the establishment and unelected people have been imposed on the people through rigging in the elections. The meeting demanded that the establishment immediately stop all kinds of interference in politics.

The forum said due to the wrong internal and failed policies of civil servants, political instability and global isolation in the country and in order to bring the country out of political stability and global isolation, the formulation of the country’s internal and foreign policy is necessary from the country’s truly elected parliament.