Pakistani opposition parties say will launch drive to oust government after Eid

Senior leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) meet at Bilawal House in Lahore, Pakistan, on July 20, 2020 (PPP Twitter handle)
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Updated 20 July 2020
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Pakistani opposition parties say will launch drive to oust government after Eid

  • Leaders of two major opposition parties, PPP and PML-N, meet at Bilawal House and say have agreed to topple PM Imran Khan-led government 
  • Government spokesman says PPP and PMLN had several chances to run the country but did “nothing” for the masses 

LAHORE: Two major Pakistani opposition political parties said on Monday they would hold a joint conference after the Eid Al-Adha holiday to kickstart a campaign to oust the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan. 

The decision was taken at a meeting of senior leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) at Bilawal House in Lahore. 

“The leadership of the two major opposition parties, PPP, PML-N, agreed on the point that it is necessary to get rid of the Imran-led government,” PMLN leader Ahsan Iqbal told media after the meeting.

“The two parties are unanimous on toppling the PTI [ruling party] government and a strategy will be finalized at the multi parties’ conference to be held after Eidul Adha,” senior PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira said. “A joint opposition coordination committee will be formed that will have representatives from all opposition parties.”
A cricket legend and firebrand nationalist who is hero-worshipped by supporters, PM Khan swept to power in 2018 on a populist platform vowing to root out corruption among a venal elite and lift people out of poverty.
But he inherited control of a volatile nation facing mounting problems at home and abroad, including a growing economic crisis and a fracture with historic ally the United States and fraught ties with neighbor Afghanistan and nuclear-armed rival India.
Leaders from the PPP and PMLN said they had agreed that the Khan government had failed to deliver on its promises to the masses. An anti-graft crusade promoted Khan by has led to swathes of arrests of politicians, which opponents have called ‘political victimization.’ 
The PPP and the PMLN have both ruled Pakistani multiple times since its inception in 1947 while Khan’s PTI won its first election two years ago.
“They [PPP and PMLN] have ruled the country for several decades but did nothing for the people,” PTI leader and Punjab information minister Fayazul Hasan Chohan told Arab News. “The two parties who have looted the country ruthlessly are making such efforts to save themselves from accountability.” 


Pakistan top military commander urges ‘multi-domain preparedness’ amid evolving security threats

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Pakistan top military commander urges ‘multi-domain preparedness’ amid evolving security threats

  • Asim Munir says Pakistan faces layered challenges spanning conventional, cyber, economic and information domains
  • His comments come against the backdrop of tensions with India, ongoing militant violence in western border regions

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top military commander Field Marshal Asim Munir on Tuesday stressed the need for “multi-domain preparedness” to counter a broad spectrum of security challenges facing the country, saying they ranged from conventional military threats to cyber, economic and information warfare.

Pakistan’s security environment has remained volatile following a brief but intense conflict with India earlier this year, when the two nuclear-armed neighbors exchanged missile and artillery fire while deploying drones and fighter jets over four days before a ceasefire was brokered by the United States.

Pakistan has also been battling militant violence in its western provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, where authorities say armed groups operate from across the border in Afghanistan and receive backing from India. Both Kabul and New Delhi have rejected claims.

The military has also warned that disinformation constitutes a new form of security threat, prompting tighter regulations that critics say risk suppressing dissent. Munir also pointed to a “complex and evolving” global, regional and internal security landscape while addressing participants in the National Security and War Course at the National Defense University (NDU).

“These challenges span conventional, sub-conventional, intelligence, cyber, information, military, economic and other domains, requiring comprehensive multi-domain preparedness, continuous adaptation and synergy among all elements of national power,” he said, according to a military statement.

“Hostile elements increasingly employ indirect and ambiguous approaches, including the use of proxies to exploit internal fault lines, rather than overt confrontation,” he continued, adding that future leaders must be trained and remain alert to recognize, anticipate and counter these multi-layered challenges.

Munir also lauded the NDU for producing strategic thinkers who he said were capable of translating rigorous training and academic insight into effective policy formulation and operational outcomes.