After an eight-month hiatus, the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance is finally back into action by announcing the second phase of its anti-government campaign.
The Alliance has already started it with a public meeting at Karachi on 29 August. This was the first major activity by the Alliance after the exit of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Awami National Party (ANP) after developing differences over the issue of en masse resignations from the legislatures and the nomination of PPP’s Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani as the Leader of Opposition in the Senate in April this year.
The first phase of the PDM’s movement had ended abruptly after the Lahore public meeting in December last year when its leaders did not announce any future strategy despite the fact they had previously categorically declared to hold a long march towards Islamabad in January 2021 to give a final push to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insad (PTI)-led coalition government, which completed its three years last month.
Learning from the experience, this time the PDM leaders have not given any timeframe for their planned long march to Islamabad, though it is still a part of their plan. So far, the opposition Alliance has only announced three or four activities, including two public meetings in Punjab, until October 31.
In their private conversations, PDM leaders claim that they have prepared a schedule of more than 50 public meetings and rallies all over the country. However, so far they are reluctant to share their plan with the media.
It seems the PDM leadership has decided to adopt a wait-and-see policy because of the announcements by the lawyers, journalists, and human rights bodies to launch a protest drive against the government over some of its recent decisions and planned moves.
It seems the PDM leaders are expecting a situation like the March 2007 when the lawyers had launched a historic movement for the restoration of the judges after the then military dictator General Pervez Musharraf removed former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry from office.
The lawyers’ movement soon gathered momentum and the then opposition parties, which had failed to cause any damage to the Musharraf regime from the platforms of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and the Muttehida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), cashed in on it.
Taking advantage of this situation, two former prime ministers – Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif – decided to end their exile and landed in the country ahead of the elections scheduled to be held in December 2007, but were delayed till February 2008 due to the assassination of Ms Bhutto at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi. This time again, Nawaz Sharif is in self-exile in London.
This time around, media workers, journalists, lawyers and the civil society representatives have launched a movement against the government over its plan to set up a controversial Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) to regulate the media, including social media, and some recent inductions in the higher judiciary.
As the government has adopted an adamant stance and announced to go ahead with its plan to set up the PMDA and unilateral introduction of the electoral and legal reforms, one can expect that the present movement of the lawyers and the journalists can also get some momentum in the near future – the only hope for the opportunist opposition parties.
A constellation of lawyers’ bodies, including the Supreme Court Bar Association, have already launched a campaign against what they call the efforts of the establishment to enslave media and judiciary in Pakistan – by completely boycotting the Supreme Court proceedings on 9 September.
The representatives of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Pakistan Bar Council, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists held a joint news conference at Islamabad’s National Press Club on 8 September in which they vowed to collectively struggle for the freedom of press and independence of judiciary.
After a meeting of the PDM’s Executive Committee presided over by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the Alliance leaders announced that they would organise a convention in Islamabad on 26 September, to which they would invite the representatives of the lawyers, journalists, traders, civil society, and farmers.
After this activity, the PDM leaders are expected to gather at a ceremony to be organized by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) to pay tributes to former party leader Mufti Mehmood in Peshawar on 14 October.
The PDM has announced to hold public meetings in Faisalabad and Dera Ghazi Khan on 16 and 31 October respectively.
Briefing reporters about the decisions taken at the PDM meeting, JUI-F’s Hafiz Hamdullah said the coalition would announce the future plan, including road caravans and a long march to Islamabad, after their 31 October public meeting.
The JUI-F leader reiterated the coalition’s vociferous opposition to the government’s move to introduce Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the next elections, terming it a “new ploy” to rig the upcoming elections.
Asserting the coalition wanted to see the current political dispensation wrapped up as early as possible, he claimed the PDM leaders were ready to go into the elections even if these were held today.
The meeting of the PDM committee came a day after PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman held each other responsible for the disintegration of PDM, damaging the opposition’s cause, and providing clandestine support to the government.
In his speech at a workers’ convention at Rahim Yar Khan, Mr Bhutto-Zardari lashed out at the PML-N for not supporting his proposal to bring a no-confidence motion against Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and accused it of doing politics of “hypocrisy”.
In an apparent reference to PML-N, the PPP chairman said the parties that raised the slogan Vote Ko Izzat Do (respect the vote) should use their votes to dislodge Mr Buzdar from the office of chief minister.
The rejoinder to Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s remarks came not from the PML-N but from Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Addressing a function in Abbottabad he alleged that the PPP had caused “irreparable damage” to the opposition’s anti-government movement by quitting the PDM at a crucial time.
Earlier, addressing a news conference in Karachi on 28 August, the Maulana had assailed the PPP for attempting to “stab the opposition movement in its back”, giving a strong indication that the alliance had moved on from seeking any future reunion with the party.
Hours after the media reported Maulana Fazl’s remarks, PPP’s information secretary Faisal Karim Kundi issued a hard-hitting statement, alleging that the JUI-F chief had damaged the PDM only to save himself from the clutches of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Mr Kundi further alleged that through en masse resignations from the assemblies, the Maulana wanted to strengthen the hands of the “puppet prime minister” to provide him an opportunity to roll back the 18th Amendment. He recalled that in 2002, the Maulana had become the opposition leader after “striking a deal with the establishment”.
The PPP leader asked the JUI-F chief to tell the nation as to what was the offer he had received after which he had announced ending his party’s sit-in in Islamabad in 2019.
Later, PPP secretary general Farhatullah Babar in his statement expressed “grave disappointment” over the Maulana’s accusation that the PPP by not resigning from the assemblies had played into the hands of the establishment.
“It does not befit the stature of the Maulana to resort to blatant falsehood in responding to criticism of his politics and policies”, said Mr Babar, who is otherwise not known for making personal comments against any political leader.
“The Maulana’s accusations are absolutely untrue and aimed at covering up the role played by him which will achieve no purpose except to further divide the opposition in its efforts to dislodge the selected regime,” Mr Babar went on to say.
According to Mr Babar, the PDM had broken the day when even before the heads’ meeting on 8 March in Islamabad to discuss the long march, it announced linking the long march with resignations from the assemblies behind the back of PPP.
He recalled that the PPP had participated in the JUI-F’s long march in October 2019, later abruptly called off by the Maulana after his meetings with the Chaudhrys of Gujrat. Although it raised serious questions as to what games the Maulana was playing, he said, the PPP refrained from accusing him of playing into the hands of the establishment.
“The PDM may have decided to find fresh relevance for itself but without a clear objective and an intended outcome, it may appear to be full of ‘sound and fury’ signify- ing nothing,” says an editorial of Daily Dawn while commenting on the efforts of the PDM leadership to groan back into life.
According to the newspaper, the PDM can amplify its criticism of the government through its platform, and perhaps attempt to create a fresh narrative to counter the government’s increasing confidence, but it does not have any tools by which to weaken the government.
The editorial continues: “The duality of narrative within the PML-N is also weighing down on the effectiveness of the opposition alliance. Unless the PML-N can clear this confusion and speak with one voice, the PDM will also remain unsure of what it really wants. The alliance may appear re-energized, but it has little to offer by way of an alternative to the PTI government”.
