Opposition meets today in APC to chalk out anti-govt protest strategy

ISLAMABAD: An All-Parties Conference (APC) has been convened on Wednesday (today) by JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to chalk out an anti-govt protest strategy.

According to details, Pakistan’s main opposition parties will attend the APC convened by the JUI-F chief. The meeting will reportedly take place at a private hotel in the capital.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Awami National Party (ANP), the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP), the National Party and the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) will attend the conference.

It is not sure whether or not the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) will attend the party or not. According to The Express Tribune, party chief Akhtar Mengal might attend the conference if talks with the government do not pan out.

Despite getting an invite from Fazl, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Siraj ul Haq has decided to keep away from the APC altogether.

The conference comes a few weeks after former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur were arrested by NAB in the fictitious bank accounts cases. Zardari and Faryal have both denied charges and have claimed that the government is using NAB to exact political revenge on opponents.

Former prime minister and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif is already serving an imprisonment sentence in prison after he was convicted in the Al-Azizia Mills case. Nawaz, too, has criticised NAB and claimed that the anti-graft body is strong-arming the opposition in collusion with the government.

Opposition parties are expected to chalk out a schedule of protest rallies against the government. The APC will also discuss moves to thwart the government’s attempt to have the Finance Bill passed in its current form.

The opposition will also discuss plans and a schedule to close down Islamabad in protest.