Firebrand cleric-cum-politician Maulana Fazlur Rehman has been unanimously appointed as the chief of the newly-formed Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an anti-government alliance launched by 11 Opposition parties to oust Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The decision was taken on Saturday during a virtual meeting of the Opposition parties attended by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Balochistan National Party chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal among other senior politicians.
According to PDM’s steering committee convener Ahsan Iqbal, Sharif proposed 67-year-old Rehman’s name as the alliance president and it was endorsed by PPP chairman Bilawal and others, the Dawn newspaper reported.
Sharif had initially proposed that Rehman should be appointed as the president on a permanent basis, but the idea was opposed by Bilawal and Awami National Party (ANP) leader Amir Haider Hoti, who suggested that the office should be given on a rotational basis to leaders of the constituent parties, the paper reported, citing sources.
There was an agreement among the leaders that Rehman should lead the PDM in the first phase as he had already led a demonstration, dubbed as ‘Azadi March’, against the present Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government last year.
“Since the Maulana has already done a rehearsal and his party is more disciplined and has the ability to effectively mobilise the masses, therefore, in the first and decisive phase, he is the best choice,” said one of the participants in the meeting.
Commenting on Rehman’s appointment, Science and technology minister Fawad Chaudhry said it was a sad day for Pakistan that an “extremist Mullah” with ties to terrorist groups is selected to lead the opposition movement.
“Sad Day for Pakistan An extremist Mullah considered Close to terrorist groups of Afghanistan is selected to lead opposition movement against Government,” Chaudhry tweeted.