ISLAMABAD: Opposition leaders Monday called for taking extraordinary measures to forge national unity in the face of US-Israeli aggression against Iran, risking regional and global peace.
One opposition leader underlined that Pakistan should not become a party to the war and that if the government wanted to give President Trump a Nobel peace prize or go to the Board of Peace, then it should hold a referendum, immediately release Imran Khan and start dialogue.
Speaking at a news conference, the opposition leaders however charged that the incumbent rulers were incapable of uniting the nation and advocated the release of jailed leadership, including ex-premier Imran Khan, to wriggle the nation out of the present critical situation.
Leader of Opposition in the Senate Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, who also is Vice-chairman of Tehreek Tahaffuz Aiyeen-e-Pakistan, said Trump had trampled all the international laws under his feet.
“What happened in Venezuela is in front of everyone. Currently, work is being done on the issue of Greater Israel and to weaken the Ummah and to occupy its resources,” he warned. He noted Iran was attacked, as it was a major hurdle to Greater Israel and realisation of Trump’s diabolical objectives.
He cautioned that if Iran was defeated, then the Ummah would disintegrate and its rich resources would be occupied by Trump and China would also be contained. “This is not just an attack on Iran but on the entire Ummah. The reasons for the bases built in Arab countries have become clear to everyone now. They built the bases in Arabia for their own protection,” he claimed.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Salman Akram Raja remarked, “At this time, we are facing an extraordinary situation in the Middle East as a nation. Barbarism has been imposed on the region, whereas the Iran-US talks in Oman were about to reach a conclusion, but the Western powers destroyed everything.”
He underlined that the time had come for Pakistan to play its role, being a nuclear power, but unfortunately, institutions and people were being pitted against each other, as anarchy had been created in the country through lies and a fake, false government had been imposed on the people.
“Let us be careful not to repeat the mistakes made in the past. A day ago, people were sentenced in their absence. The total sentences imposed have reached 50 years,” he emphasized. Salman Akram insisted that now everyone had to sit together and find a solution to the problems.
“Everyone will have to sit at the negotiating table, whereas Rs55 per liter petrol increase has indicated what is going to happen to us next,” he said. He pointed out that no other country in the region had seen such a price increase while the elite had seized this opportunity.
He said instead of reducing their lavish spending, the elite was buying expensive planes, whose monthly expenses were in the millions. “We will have to change this system and this is the time when we need to look back on the past,” he contended. Ex-senator and senior PTI leader Babar Awan proposed that Pakistan should immediately suspend its membership of the Peace Board, as already Indonesia had decided to not join the Board, while Israeli PM Netanyahu was a declared criminal at the international level.
About the recent ATC sentences, he lamented that 47 people were sentenced in Pakistan in their absence, whereas most of them were not even accused of carrying stones. The verdicts given in these cases have no validity, he added.
He noted that the Federal Court was established to hear constitutional cases but now it will also hear the first criminal case. Addressing the rulers, he remarked, “You should make a law and give everyone jobs for life. You are destroying the hope of the young generation”.
