QUETTA: The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in its third power show here on Sunday criticized severely Prime Minister Imran Khan and his government.
The massive rally at the Ayub Stadium was held despite a government warning that militants can target the public gathering.
Among the PDM leadership, PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, as well as JUI-F chief and PDM leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, all addressed the large show of supporters who gathered to hear the Opposition speak.
Maryam began by saying sentiments of Pakistanis were hurt after depictions of the Holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) were projected onto government buildings in France.
She asked the people to raise their hands and record their protests against such disrespectful actions.
The PML-N vice-president also lamented over the non-provision of scholarships to the students of Balochistan. “The students of Balochistan and Punjab are close to my heart.”
“I love the people of Balochistan more than the people of Punjab,” she said, speaking of her intentions behind donning a traditional Balochi dress.
Jalsa attendees were heard chanting intermittently: “Charon subon ki awaz Maryam Nawaz, Maryam Nawaz (The voice of four provinces Maryam Nawaz, Maryam Nawaz)” and “Vote ko izzat do (give respect to vote)”.
Maryam stressed that the people of Balochistan have just as much a right to elect their own representatives as anyone else in the country.
Talking about a girl who had approached her ahead of the jalsa and informed her that three of her brothers had “disappeared”, she said that when she and her father were detained, she did not cry, however, after hearing the girl’s story, her eyes were full of tears.
Maryam said she remembers Dr Shazia, and Nawab Akbar Bugti, and how his loved ones were “not allowed to take a look at his body”.
Slamming the ones who entered her hotel room in Karachi, she asked whether these were Pakistan’s norms. “Do you people accept this?” she asked the jalsa attendees.
The PML-N leader said that the teachings of Pakistan’s founder were being erased and demanded that the people’s elected representatives be allowed to rule. “Don’t install a fake government,” she said.
Referring to the Supreme Court’s detailed decision on the reference against Qazi Faez Isa that was quashed, she said: “Imran Khan and his selectors should resign over their historic defeat.”
She said Islamabad High Court Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui should also be served justice, adding that the “sun is about to set” on the current “dictatorial regime”. “The puppet show will soon come to an end,” she said.
PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was next to address the gathering remotely, via video link. Speaking from Shigar in Gilgit-Baltistan, Bilawal said that his party would not pull out from the PDM.
“We can move two steps forward, but we will not step back.”
