ISLAMABAD - The opposition’s Rehbar Committee on Thursday decided to hold the All Parties Conference (APC) on September 20 at Bilawal House in Islamabad.
The decision regarding APC was taken in the meeting of Rehbar Committee which took place under the chairmanship of JUI-F’s senior leader Akram Khan at his residence here in Islamabad.
Sources within PPP told The Nation that the APC is expected to be hosted by Shehbaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and participation of Asif Ali Zardari is yet to be confirmed.
While talking to the media after the meeting the convener of the Rehbar Committee Akram Khan Durrani said that the opposition parties were once again on the same page for the people of Pakistan and for resolving their issues.
While rejecting the cracks within the ranks of opposition parties Akram Durrani stated that there were many misconceptions regarding the opposition which were entirely based on lie. He stated that all the opposition parties wanted to hold the APC earlier but due to some other political activities the APC was delayed.
Talking about the agenda of the Rehbar Committee meeting he concluded that the only agenda of the meeting was to hold free and fresh elections without the interference of any external forces. While answering a question Durrani said that the option of in-house change will be discussed in the upcoming APC.
All opposition parties on same page
Meanwhile, the senior leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and former Prime Minister of Pakistan Raja Pervez Ashraf said that they were ready to support the government in the FATF legislations within a limited circle; adding that they will not let Pakistan to remain in the grey list of FATF.
He stated that they never wanted to support the government in FATF legislations for getting NRO; adding that news regarding this was biased and had no connection with reality.
The senior leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Ahsan Iqbal on the occasion said that the Prime Minister Imran Khan was of view that both the opposition and India were on the same page regarding the FATF legislations.
He stated that Imran Khan had surrendered to India on the matter of Kashmir; adding that instead of showing aggression in making fake cases against the opposition Imran Khan should aggressively raise the issue of Kashmir.
On the other hand sources within the meeting told The Nation that during the meeting all small parties expressed their reservations over the attitude of PPP and PML-N. The source said that both these parties in the meeting addressed the reservations of the small parties and agreed to launch a movement against the incumbent government.
The sources further said that the APC was earlier planned to take place in the Chairmanship of PML-N, President Shehbaz Sharif, but the committee in the meeting decided the APC to be hosted by PPP due to some undefined reasons.
While talking about the agreement between the opposition parties the sources said that a non formal agreement was also signed between the opposition parties which will bind all the parties not to violate the decisions of the Rehbar Committee.
It is important to mention here that the meeting of the Rehbar Committee was attended by 11 parties including PPP, PML-N and BNP-Mengal who was the alliance of the government and had parted way with the government due to some reservations.
