ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi warned the opposition on Monday the government would not allow anyone to “interfere” in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s meeting which is scheduled to take place in the federal capital next week.
Qureshi issued the statement in response to an announcement by the country’s leading opposition parties to embark on a “long march” to Islamabad starting March 23.
The Pakistan Day parade is held on March 23 every year to commemorate the Lahore Resolution, which was adopted on the same day in 1940 and laid the foundation for a Muslim-majority state in South Asia. This year, March 23 will also coincide with Islamabad hosting the 48th OIC Council of Foreign Ministers meeting. At least 46 OIC foreign ministers have confirmed participation.
Pakistan has also witnessed intense political volatility since the opposition filed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan last week, accusing his administration of misgovernance. Khan, who started meeting his coalition partners and arranged public rallies soon after the development, has promised to gather a “sea of people” in front of the parliament building on March 27 ahead of the no-trust proceedings in the National Assembly.
“The OIC conference will be held in Islamabad,” Qureshi said in a statement circulated by the foreign office. “We will not allow anyone to interfere in it.”
The foreign minister noted his country had sent invitations to all Muslim states for the event, adding it was going to be a huge honor for Pakistan.
“The opposition says it has requisite numbers [to topple the government through the no-trust vote],” he added. “If they have the numbers, why do they need to arrange sit-ins?”
Commenting on the prime minister’s decision to bring one million people to the federal capital a day before the no-confidence proceeding, Qureshi said the prime minister wanted to “share certain things” with the nation.
He maintained Khan would “take the nation into confidence” over the issues by holding the planned public rally.
On Monday evening, Maulana Fazlur Rehman of the Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), who also heads the Pakistan Democratic Movement, an opposition alliance against Khan, asked supporters of the opposition to embark on the long march to the capital.
“I had already said that Fazlur Rehman’s main agenda was against the Islamic Foreign Ministers Conference,” Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said after Rehman’s press conference.
The opposition requires at least 172 votes in the 342-member National Assembly to topple Khan’s government. The current party position in the lower house of parliament shows that the opposition collectively has 162 members while the government enjoys the support of 179 lawmakers, including its coalition partners.
Opposition parties say they have the required numbers to win the no-trust vote as they struggle to convince the government’s allied parties to leave the coalition.
Addressing a news conference earlier in the day, the also said the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party had “complete trust” in its allies in the federal government: the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Grand Democratic Alliance and the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP).
“I have been constantly saying and will repeat today that I, as a political worker, believe that all our allies ... [are with us and] and my party and I have complete faith in them,” he told reporters. “We believe they are very refined and honorable people. They have supported us at various points in these three years and we were, are and will remain thankful to them.”
