Pakistan PM Imran Khan refuses to resign ahead of anti-govt protests

As Jamiat Ulema-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) is to rise against the ruling Government in Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan on October 23 said that he will not resign under pressure from the opposition. On the other hand, the opposition plans to launch protests against the Government named 'Azadi March' later this month. Media reports cite Imran Khan as saying that he senses a hidden agenda working behind the protests. Pakistan Government on October 23 reportedly decided to let the opposition's 'Azadi March' protest in Islamabad proceed as long as parameters laid out by courts for lawful protest are not breached. 

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"There is no question of my resignation and I will not resign. Dharna is agenda-based, and it has foreign support. I don't understand what Maulana's problem is. I don't understand the agenda of the opposition, " Khan said at a meeting with senior journalists and analysts.

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About Azadi March 

Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman reportedly called for the Azadi March in June in a bid to topple the government, which Rehman claims came to power through 'fake elections'. The march's date was initially set on October 27 but later deferred till October 31. Maulana said the media that the protesters would instead organize rallies on October 27 to express solidarity with the people of Kashmir, who would be observing a black day all over the world against Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir on that day.

A seven-member team under Defence Minister Pervez Khattak was constituted by PM Imran Khan in order to engage the JUI-F and other opposition parties ahead of their planned march. On Saturday, Maulana agreed for sending his party’s secretary-general and Senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri to meet the Senate chairman, who, as a member of the government negotiating team, had contacted him over the telephone and sought a meeting.

On the following day on October 20, Rehman had stopped his party's delegation from meeting Sanjrani, saying a decision on talks with the government would now be made by the opposition’s collective Rehbar Committee after PPP objected to the negotiations. JUI-F leader Akram Durrani told the media that the option of negotiations with the government is subject to the party being permitted to take out a peaceful 'Azadi March' on October 27, after a meeting of the Rehbar Committee on October 21.

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(With inputs from ANI)

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