Opposition party leaders during a multi-party conference (MPC) in Islamabad on Wednesday finally reached consensus on the removal of Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani.
Members of the PPP, PML-N, JUI-F, Awami National Party, and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, among others, had attended the MPC held at a hotel in Islamabad to discuss the possibilities of launching an anti-government protest from a single, united platform.
JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, addressing a press conference after the 8-hour-long meeting, read out an official statement on the decisions agreed upon by all attendees.
The MPC has decided to replace Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani through lawful and Constitutional means. A rehbar committee ─ to be set up to ensure action on the points agreed upon in today's meeting ─ will also provide recommendations for possible replacements for Sanjrani, the statement said.
Additionally, the opposition parties decided to observe July 25, the date of the General Election last year, as a 'black day' due to alleged rigging in the polls. They also demanded the immediate resignation of the parliamentary committee formed to probe rigging in the election.
The participants of the meeting decided that all political parties with ties to the opposition should launch a protest against the budget, which they described as "enemy of the people, businessmen, investors, health, education, and farmers".
A mass contact campaign will be launched to apprise citizens of the government's "anti-people" agenda in order to provide relief to the masses, it was decided.
The MPC demanded that production orders be issued for arrested Waziristan MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir, and called for the formation of a parliamentary committee on Waziristan so that "all facts are before the nation".
Additionally, the opposition party members also demanded the formation of a new accountability law under which all people are tried under a single law by a single institution.
With respect to Commission of Inquiry announced by the prime minister recently, the opposition demanded that no institutions should interfere with politics, and called for a parliamentary committee comprising an equal number of government and opposition members to probe all grants and debts acquired by the country from the year 2000 onwards.
The opposition also called for the return of missing persons who are in the custody of security forces and have not been presented in courts, and demanded that they be presented in courts. They also called for legislation against torture of prisoners, and for detention centres in the tribal areas to be converted into regular jails, where open courts are held to resolve cases against the prisoners.
The MPC demanded the immediate removal of unannounced restrictions and censorship of the media, and for ensuring the protection of journalists. They emphasised the need for immediate legislation in this regard.
'Political show attended by political actors'
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan in a press conference following that held by the opposition party leaders pointed out that despite the addition of all sorts of "targeted agendas" in the form of "demands, requests and lectures" that could be seen in the joint statement, nowhere did it mention the word "corruption" even once.