Islamabad: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi "rejected" the opposition's deadline to the government to pack its bags, accusing the 11-party opposition alliance of "prioritising their personal agenda over the national agenda". Addressing a press conference in Islamabad two days after the opposition alliance, also known as the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), held its sixth power show in Lahore, Qureshi said he did not want to keep the PDM leadership in any sort of anticipation.
"We reject your ultimatum. You say the prime minister should resign by Jan 31. We are categorically saying the prime minister of Pakistan will not step down. You say assemblies should be dissolved. The prime minister has said and I am repeating [his words], assemblies will not be dissolved. The deadline stands rejected," he said. However, Qureshi said that the decision did not indicate the government's "stubbornness", and hinted at the possibility of a dialogue. "We are political people and are open-minded".
A day earlier, the PDM leadership had demanded the PTI-led government to quit by January 31 or face an intensified opposition movement, including a long march to the capital. The demand was made by PDM president Maulana Fazlur Rehman while speaking to the media in Lahore alongside PML-N's Maryam Nawaz, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and other opposition leaders.
As part of the anti-government movement, Rehman said lawmakers from PDM member parties in the national and provincial assemblies will hand in their resignations to their party leaders by December 31. Fazlur Rehman had said that if the government refused to quit by Jan 31, a meeting of the PDM's leadership on February 1 will announce a long march towards Islamabad, the date of which will also be decided during the meeting.
During the press conference, Qureshi claimed there was no consensus in the PDM over the matter of resignations or over the matter of the proposed long march. Qureshi claimed that the PDM's Lahore rally was a "failure", saying the PDM had been unable to mobilise the masses.
