PDM's Minar-e-Pakistan rally to be referendum against rulers: Sanaullah

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Punjab president Rana Sanaullah said on Tuesday the opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) will flex its political muscles at Lahore’s Minar-e-Pakistan ground on December 13.

Speaking at a press conference, he said committees comprising party MNAs and MPAs have been constituted to look after arrangements for the power show. Party leaders Pervez Malik and Saiful Mulk will be the committees’ convener and deputy convener, respectively.

Sanaullah said a meeting was called today to discuss the December 13 public meeting, which he said, would be a referendum against “incapable and incompetent” rulers. The event would prove that Lahore has awakened, after which entire Punjab and Pakistan would awaken, he said.

Taking a swipe at the ruling PTI, he asked who is making state institutions controversial. How will democracy thrive if institutions will be used for political objectives, he questioned. He further asked who made the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) controversial and who is blackmailing its chairman.

The lawmaker lamented that he was arrested on fake and baseless charges and was implicated in a drug case when nothing incriminating was found against him.

He predicted that cases and NAB references against opposition leaders will soon be withdrawn. A time will come when the corruption watchdog would admit in courts that these cases are politically motivated, he maintained and appealed to the chief justice to take notice of these cases.

Rana Sanaullah announced the PDM will also hold a public meeting in Islamabad. Prime Minister Imran Khan had said he would bring one million people to Islamabad but he could bring just 20,000 to 30,000 people, he recalled.

He said the number of participants in PDM’s Islamabad rally will surge past one million when it will reach the capital.