ISLAMABAD: On the eve of its scheduled mass protest, a Pakistani opposition party on Saturday ruled out any possibility of negotiations with the government until Prime Minister Imran Khan resigned and said it would settle for nothing less.
Fazl-ur-Rehman, chief of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), one of the country’s largest religious political parties, is leading the protest march to oust Khan, citing rigged elections. The protest raises the prospect of political turmoil as the government struggles to stabilize the economy.
The opposition protest caravan will begin moving from the southern city of Karachi on Sunday to the capital Islamabad in the country’s northeast. Protesters from all over the country are scheduled to gather in the federal capital on Oct. 31 to demand Khan’s resignation and the dissolution of the assemblies.
“We will go ahead with our protest as planned until the Prime Minister resigns from his position,” Mufti Kifayatullah, JUI-F senior leader and a close aide of Rehman, told Arab News on Saturday.
“If anybody thinks we will settle for less than that, he is living in a fool’s paradise,” he said.
Negotiation committees of both the government and the opposition held two rounds of talks in Islamabad on Friday night to find middle ground ahead of the protest but failed to do so. Following this, Defense Minister Pervez Khattak who was leading the government team, told media that talks would continue.
“We simply asked them (the government team) if they had brought the PM’s resignation with them. They said no, and the talks were over,” Kifayatullah said.
The opposition committee negotiating with the government had representatives from all opposition parties, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
Asad Umar, a PTI lawmaker and member of the negotiation committee, admitted that no headway was made in talks with the opposition so far.
“We are trying to settle the issue peacefully,” he told Arab News. “The government is still open for talks to keep the opposition’s protest within the ambit of the law and constitution.”
Umar declined to provide further details on how the government was planning to deal with the protesters.
Khan won last year’s election on a promise to end corruption and help middle-class families but the economy is running into headwinds, as it struggles to avert a balance of payments crisis and prevent its debt from spiraling out of control. In July, the government agreed to a $6 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund and accepted a tough reforms package, which has led to record inflation.
Meanwhile, Rehman, a veteran politician who heads an alliance with several seats in the Parliament, has the ability to mobilize support in numerous religious schools, or madrasas, across the country.
“This is a protest movement and will continue till we achieve our goal,” Rehman said while speaking to media earlier this week.
Pakistani opposition rules out talks with government, to go ahead with protests
Pakistani opposition rules out talks with government, to go ahead with protests
- Protest to oust PM Imran Khan and hold fresh polls in the country kicks off on Sunday
- Government and opposition parties unable to reach middle-ground in negotiations
Pakistan’s deputy PM says country will not send forces to Gaza to disarm Hamas
- Ishaq Dar says Pakistan open to peacekeeping but Gaza’s internal security is Palestinian responsibility
- Pakistan’s top religious clerics from different schools have warned against sending forces to Palestine
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said on Saturday Pakistan was willing to contribute to an international peacekeeping force in Gaza, though it would not deploy troops to disarm or de-weaponize Hamas.
The statement follows media reports saying Washington views Pakistan as a potentially significant contributor given its battle-hardened military and wants it to be part of International Stabilization Force (ISF), which is part of United States President Donald Trump’s 20-point framework for a Gaza peace plan.
The plan announced by Trump at the White House on September 29 was formally adopted at the Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Summit in October. Co-chaired by Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the summit brought together leaders from 27 countries to sign the “Trump Declaration for Enduring Peace and Prosperity.”
Deployment of troops from Muslim-majority countries during a transitional stabilization phase is a key part of the plan before the war-ravaged Palestinian territory moves toward reconstruction and a longer-term political settlement.
“If they say that we should go and start fighting, disarm Hamas, de-weaponize them, and go and destroy the tunnels that Hamas has built until now, that is not our job,” Dar, who is also the country’s foreign minister, told reporters during a year-end briefing in Islamabad.
He emphasized there was clarity between Pakistan’s civil and military leadership over the matter.
“We have a very complete understanding on this matter that we cannot do that kind of work,” he added.
The deputy prime minister said Pakistan had been using the term “peacekeeping” and had never used the phrase “peace enforcement” while discussing the force.
“I have been very clear: Pakistan will be happy to join if the mandate is not peace enforcement and disarming and de-weaponizing Hamas.”
The government’s stance comes amid growing domestic pressure over the issue.
On Monday, a group of Pakistan’s top religious leaders, chaired by prominent scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani, warned the government against yielding to what they described as international pressure to send forces to Gaza.
In a joint statement from Karachi, the clerics — representing Deobandi, Barelvi, Ahl-e-Hadees and Shia schools of thought — said that Washington wanted Muslim countries to send their forces to Gaza to disarm Hamas.
“Several Muslim governments have already refused this, and pressure is being increased on Pakistan,” it added.
Addressing such concerns, Dar said Pakistan would not land its forces in Palestine to “fight Muslims.”
Israel has repeatedly called for the disarmament of Hamas as a precondition for any long-term settlement, and the United Nations Security Council has also endorsed the ISF framework in November.
However, Dar maintained during the media briefing the internal security of Gaza was the Palestinian responsibility.
“The Palestinian Authority, their government, it is their job, it is the job of their law enforcement agency,” he said
The deputy prime minister also highlighted Pakistan’s involvement in the “Arab Islamic Group of Eight,” including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkiye and Indonesia, which has been coordinating on the crisis.
He said the efforts of these countries had brought some peace to Palestine and reduced bloodshed.
“Our declared policy is that there should be an independent two-state solution,” he continued while calling for pre-1967 borders.
