KARACHI: Reaffirming its stance that resigning from the assembly should be used as a last resort, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Monday announced it was vacating all positions of the opposition alliance, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), and called for an unconditional apology for the “annoying attitude” as “there is no concept of cause-and-effect notification in democratic alliances”.

PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told a press conference that the party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) had asked its members to resign from all PDM positions.

Bilawal said the CEC had come to the conclusion that withdrawing from the national and provincial assemblies should be “like an atomic bomb”. He said the PPP’s stance that the opposition should not “leave parliament and the battlefields of the Senate” had been proven correct.

He said if the PPP listened to other political parties in the opposition and boycotted the Senate and by-elections, it would be detrimental to democracy. “We are not giving the PTI government an open chance of gaining a two-thirds majority in the Senate,” he said, adding that the government lost on “its own tone” when the PDM candidate won from the by-election by Nowshera.

“We will not underestimate the achievements PPP has made after many sacrifices,” he said. “When the PML-N came to power, we protected the parliament then and we will protect the parliament today.”

He said those who wish to resign from parliament must do so. “However, no one should impose their will or dictation on other political parties,” he said. “And the Pakistan People’s Party will continue to oppose a firm and consistent elected government that has been going on from day one and does not stop for one day,” said the PPP chairman. “The Pakistan People’s Party rejects the so-called cause-and-effect notification,” he said. “Politics is conducted with equality and respect,” he added.

“PPP demands an unconditional apology to ANP and PPP for this annoying attitude,” he said. Bilawal said PPP supported ANP and would not leave them under any circumstances. “There is no concept of cause-and-effect notification in a democratic alliance,” he said.

He told of PPP’s participation in the Democracy Restoration Movement and the Democracy Recovery Alliance. “We condemn opposition politics against opposition members,” he said.

The PPP chairman said the door to his party was open to all other parties, adding there had to be a “working relationship” between them. He also spoke of the $ 500 million loan Pakistan received from the IMF. “Cut [IMF deal] consistently targeting poor people in Pakistan, ”he said, adding that the government was putting the burden on the shoulders of the poor. “The details of the PTI agreement with the IMF have not been shared with the public or their representatives,” he said. “Whatever knowledge we get is due to IMF documents,” he added.

He blamed the government for carrying out a “historic attack” on the country’s economic independence, saying through a draft State Bank of Pakistan regulation that the Center wanted to be passed, the government ensured that the central bank did not answer to the country. “The PPP Central Leadership Committee rejected it [the ordinance] and we will, even in the month of Ramadan, start a campaign against this PTI-IMF agreement, ”he said.

The head of the PPP said the government’s contradictory policies on the Kashmir issue were “contradictory and confusing”. He said it was the government’s duty to represent and be the voice of the oppressed Kashmiri people in their time of need.

He said the BJP’s manifesto spoke of annexing occupied Kashmir. “However, during India’s election campaign, the Prime Minister of Pakistan said that if Modi wins, the Kashmir problem will be resolved,” Bilawal said.

Bilawal added “history will remember” this sentence by PM Imran Khan. “History will remember there was a prime minister who was incompetent and failed in this matter,” he lashed out at the Prime Minister.

Bilawal lamented Imran Khan’s reaction to India’s illegal actions on August 5, saying: “What can I do?” “And suddenly Imran Khan remembered that Modi, whom he campaigned for during the entire election, was a fascist,” he said, mocking the Prime Minister.

He then pointed out how the government, at first, said it wanted to trade with India but then rejected its own move [Imran Khan] sometimes said that he was the Kashmir ambassador but later acted as Kulbhushan Jadhav’s lawyer, ”said the PPP chairman.

Bilawal said “when a leader leads” the country by convincing the Parliament and the people, then that country can handle India and other powers in the world as well. He said the CEC PPP had decided to raise the issue of occupied Kashmir through the Kashmir Action Committee many times, adding it was the party’s determination to ensure parliament took part in matters concerning the masses.

Bilawal said the CEC also discussed the results of the 2017 census, adding that PPP initially accepted the 2017 census results conditionally. He said, based on the results of the census, state resources were distributed to provinces. Bilawal said the 2017 census had “de jure” results and not “de jure” numbers.

“It does not count the people who actually live there and consume figures,” he said, adding that it was the PPP’s demand that the de facto results be included in the census. Meanwhile, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz said that Monday. It is up to Maulana Fazlur Rehman, head of the PDM, to make a decision using its discretion over the PPP’s reaction to the fabricated notification by the anti-government opposition coalition, Geo News reported. To the media in Lahore, Maryam clarified that the decision to issue a reason notification towards PPP was taken unanimously by PDM and not by one party. He said parties in the PDM were united and committed to their cause. “We will sit in the PDM [meeting] and decide what to do “about it, he said.