PDM adamant on holding Multan rally, Fazlur Rehman terms govt's moves 'state terrorism'

MULTAN: Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Sunday vowed to go ahead with a public gathering in Multan scheduled for November 30 despite the PTI-led government's efforts to stop the Opposition coalition.

Addressing a press conference in the city, flanked by former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and PML-N's Rana Sanullah at a JUI-F seminary, Fazlur Rehman said the Multan rally would be held at all cost and all the leaders would reach the venue come what may.

Related: PM Imran Khan lambastes Opposition, says PDM leaders 'lack empathy'

The PDM leadership held a consultative meeting at the seminary to review the situation after the Punjab government launched a crackdown against the workers who had entered Multan's Qila Kohna Qasim Bagh Stadium by breaking down the gates and removing the containers.

'This is state terrorism'

"Our political workers are being arrested from Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan," the JUI-F chief said. "We wanted the movement to go smoothly, but due to the government's stupidity, it will now speed up."

He said the government had forbidden the PDM from holding a rally in Peshawar but lamented that the PTI then held its rally in Swat. "For us, there's corona [virus] but they held a rally in Dir," he observed.

Read more: PPP’s Ali Qasim Gilani among 30 PDM workers arrested ahead of Multan rally

A day earlier, over 30 Opposition workers — including Gilani's son, Ali Qasim Gilani — had been arrested in a late-night operation by the police to take back the control of the stadium.

"The PDM will hold the rally tomorrow at the same venue at all cost and all the leaders would reach the venue despite government threats of legal action," he said. "This is state terrorism."

'They have started a war'

Fazlur Rehman underlined that the Opposition alliance has formulated the strategy to counter the PTI-led government's action against them.

"Every section of the country is upset and worried today," he said, but added that political movements, arrests, and trials went hand in hand. "We cannot be intimidated.

Related: Gilani says Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari to address PDM's Nov 30 jalsa in Multan

"We are not ready to accept the lawlessness in the country and, if they try to stop our rally, the flood of our people will sweep them away," he said, threatening to use force if the authorities stopped them.

"If they do not let us hold our rally, then a rally will be held in every single district of Pakistan. If our workers and participants cannot reach the rally, we will fill up the jails.

"They have started a war and now all our options are open; we are ready to fight in any case. We will reach Islamabad soon and put the government in its place," Fazlur Rehman warned.

Also read: PM Imran Khan again asks PDM to call off rallies ahead of Multan jalsa

Sanaullah said his party's vice president, Maryam Nawaz, would be at the Multan rally at all costs.

"Tomorrow, Maryam Nawaz will reach Multan at any cost and will do so by breaking all the barriers," he said.

Gilani claims eighth-grader taken away

The PML-N leader underscored that the Opposition coalition had not started their movement with the permission of the PTI-led government.

Gilani, the former premier, said Aseefa Bhutto Zardari would address the rally on Monday and condemned the police highhandedness against the political workers.

"The government has already made our rally a success before it even took place," he said, noting that the PPP leaders Asif Ali Zardari and his son, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, were ill.

The former prime minister also claimed that police had taken away an eighth grader.

Opposition 'looted national wealth'

Separately, Prime Minister Imran Khan lambasted the Pakistan Democratic Movement for holding rallies and jalsas amid a worsening coronavirus situation in the country and the Opposition parties' bid to save what he termed was "looted wealth & corruption".

In a series of tweets Sunday afternoon, PM Imran Khan said Pakistan was facing not only the COVID-19 pandemic but "a political leadership that has never gone through any democratic struggle" and was not well-versed with the challenges ordinary citizens experienced.

The premier criticised the Opposition leaders for lacking empathy and their families that "looted national wealth to further impoverish our masses".

"Their desperation to get NRO any which way they can motivates them," he said. "They want jalsas, not caring for the lives and safety of people. They think this is their last means of pressuring us for NRO — which will never happen," he added.