Leaders of Pakistan’s top opposition parties to deliberate on anti-government strategy

ISLAMABAD: Leaders of Pakistan’s two top opposition parties on Wednesday pledged to use all democratic and constitutional means required to unseat the government while holding a meeting in the country’s southern port city of Karachi that witnessed massive urban flooding only a few days ago.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif said in a Twitter post that he was visiting Karachi to express solidarity with its residents who suffered a great deal due to heavy monsoon rains.
“Here to express my solidarity with the people of Karachi who braved the worst conditions created in wake of heavy downpours and urban flooding,” he wrote on the social media website. “All stakeholders need to sit together to work out a comprehensive and doable plan to uplift the megacity. Politics can wait for another day!”
Sharif visited the top Pakistan People’s Party leaders, Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto, along with other senior party members to discuss the country’s overall political situation.
The meeting was followed by a joint news conference that was addressed by the leaders of the two parties who vowed to strengthen democratic institutions by ensuring constitutional supremacy in Pakistan.
Referring to the Charter of Democracy signed between former prime ministers, Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, on May 14, 2006, in London, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said that the document required the two parties to rise above their political interests and defend democracy in the country.
The opposition leaders also claimed that the fundamental rights of Pakistani citizens were being violated under the incumbent administration and vowed to resist that while staying within the constitutional framework of the country.
The joint press conference also announced that the PPP would host the Rehbar Committee meeting on Thursday to decide the date for the All Parties Conference (APC).
Apart from criticizing the performance of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government, leaders of the two parties also targeted the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) that is investigating several high-profile opposition politicians.
The two political factions, who already claim that the anti-graft references against their leaders are politically motivated, decided to resist arrests of their party members by NAB.