PTI govt will not resign on Jan 31: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

• FM Qureshi says PM Imran enjoys the confidence of the National Assembly and will not step down.
• The Opposition alliance will also contest the Senate polls, says the foreign minister.
• PDM chief dismisses rumours of fissures in the alliance

ISLAMABAD: The PTI government will not resign on January 31 as demanded by the Opposition alliance, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Saturday.

He was talking to Geo News after the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) announced to intensify its anti-government campaign and again asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to step down before the deadline.

PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, after an important meeting at Nawaz Sharif’s residence in Lahore, dismissed reports about differences among the component parties and said the alliance "is stronger than before" and added that rumours about conflicts within the PDM are false.

Read more: PDM to contest by-polls, will take decision on Senate election later, says Fazl

Qureshi, who is also the PTI's senior vice-chairperson, said, "PM Imran Khan enjoys the confidence of the National Assembly. Why would he resign on the Opposition's demand?"

He said PDM had earlier announced to resign from the assemblies on December 31, but the date passed.

"The public has realised the Opposition's true agenda and their jalsas do not have that strength."

He claimed that the PDM will contest the Senate elections and by-polls.

Read more: Maryam Nawaz says PDM will not contest Senate elections without consensus

PDM to participate in by-polls

The leaders of the PDM on Friday said that member parties of the alliance will take part in the by-polls, but a decision related to the Senate elections will be taken later.

Speaking to journalists, Fazl vowed that the alliance is ready, more than ever, to rid the people of Pakistan from the incumbent government, and reiterated that the government only has one month to resign, after which PDM members will join heads and start planning the long march.

"We will decide whether to hold long march towards Rawalpindi or Islamabad," he said, adding that the alliance will announce the date and venue soon.

Demonstrations outside ECP, NAB offices

Fazl said that PDM would announce the long march's date later. However, before that, it would hold demonstrations outside the Election Commission of Pakistan on January 19.

Read more: PM Imran Khan says U-turns 'are only bad when ideology is compromised'

Fazl also revealed that the 11-party alliance would arrange protests outside the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) offices.

Speaking further about the anti-graft watchdog, Fazl said that it was created to "solely" target the Opposition.

"We cannot overlook Khawaja Asif's arrest," he asserted.

Talking about his meeting with PML-F leader Mohammad Ali Durrani, Fazl said that the latter had come unannounced.

"Ali Durrani presented the philosophy of national dialogue," Fazl said, adding: "I told him that negotiations were out of the question."

Answering a question, the PDM chief said that many of the decisions taken during the meeting prior to the conference are confidential, therefore, the alliance is not under any obligations to share everything with media.