Bilawal’s participation in Azadi march still unconfirmed – Newspaper

ISLAMABAD: As the Azadi march of the JUI-F has already started from Karachi, the participation of the president of the Popular Party of Pakistan (PPP), Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, in the public meeting of the opposition in Islamabad is not yet confirmed.

On the other hand, the heads of other important opposition parties, including the president of the Pakistan-Nawaz Muslim League (PML-N) Shahbaz Sharif, have already announced that they will address the participants of the Azadi march at the meeting public

Sources in the PPP said that the party had previously decided that a final decision on the participation of Bhutto-Zardari in the public meeting would be taken at the last moment after closely monitoring the situation and analyzing the events that would take place after the start of the march of Azadi. on Sunday.

Agreement between the government and the opposition in limbo after an action against the leaders of the JUI-F

Meanwhile, recent government actions against two senior leaders of the JUI-F have already put the agreement signed between the local administration and the JUI-F on the new place, the place of the public meeting in a limbo, as the Opposition parties allege that the government began violating the agreement by arresting Mufti Kifayatullah and revoking the citizenship of former Senator Hafiz Hamdullah.

Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, the official spokesman for the PPP president, said Dawn that so far the party had not made any decision on the participation of Mr. Bhutto-Zardari in the public meeting.

In addition, he said that the PPP had already announced a schedule of its own public meetings and that Bhutto-Zardari would visit several cities in southern Punjab from November 1 to 9. The PPP, he said, was still unaware of the actual plan of the JUI-F if the public meeting will be held on October 31 or November 1.

"If the public meeting is held on November 1, then it will face the PPP meeting in Rahim Yar Khan," Khokhar said.

He said the PPP president also planned to address public meetings at Uch Sharif in Bahawalpur on November 4 and Muzaffargarh on November 8.

He said Bhutto-Zardari will address the members of the Multan Bar Association on November 6.

The PPP senator said that, as far as he knew, the head of the JUI-F, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, had not formally asked the president of the PPP to address the participants in the Azadi march.

When he contacted him, the PPP leader and a member of the opposition Rehbar Committee, Farhatullah Babar, said the party leadership had previously decided that if the heads of the other parties would participate in the JUI-F public meeting , then Bhutto-Zardari would also attend.

Babar said they had come to know that the head of the Awami National Party, Asfandyar Wali, and the president of the National Party, Hasil Bizenjo, had already announced that they would participate in the Azadi march. However, he said, the PML-N had not told them so far in categorical terms whether Shahbaz Sharif would attend Jalsa or not.

He said that if Sharif decided to attend the public meeting, then it was likely that Bhutto-Zardari would also participate in it.

Earlier, he said, it was decided that Rehbar Committee members would represent their respective parties at the public meeting.

When contacted, PML-N information secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb said that Sharif had already announced that he would attend the public meeting.

The ANP leader, Zahid Khan, said Asfandyar Wali would lead the rally of the party from Mardan.

Meanwhile, the opposition reacted sharply to the recent actions against the JUI-F leaders and several opposition leaders claimed that Mufti Kifayatullah's arrest amounted to the violation of the agreement.

Babar expressed concern about the government's actions against the leaders of the JUI-F and feared more such actions in the future that, according to him, could ruin the political environment.

When contacted, a member of the government negotiating team confirmed that the opposition had formally contacted them. He said they had told the opposition that the government team was unaware of the causes of Mufti Kifayatullah's arrest.

Hamdullah citizenship

Interestingly, some social media commentators claimed that Mr. Hamdullah's citizenship, which had been canceled by Nadra declaring him a foreigner, had been restored by the government. However, when they were contacted, Hamdullah and Nadra officials denied all these reports.

Hamdullah told Dawn that he had come to know the decision of the interior ministry on October 11 on the cancellation of his citizenship. He said that a couple of days later, he had filed an appeal with the ministry seeking the restoration of his citizenship.

He said that the ministry had even set a date for the hearing, but it was canceled at the eleventh hour due to the lack of availability of the additional secretary, who should listen to him. Since then, he said, he had been waiting for the new hearing date.

Published on Dawn, October 28, 2019