Pakistan: Opposition takes back threat to disrupt OIC meet

Islamabad, March 20 : Just hours after threatening to disrupt the meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) if the National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser did not put the no-confidence resolution against Prime Minister Imran Khan on the day’s agenda by Monday, the joint opposition decided to back down stressing that Pakistan’s internal political turmoil will not be allowed to affect the event, Dawn reported on Sunday. The joint opposition gave the assurance through a press release on Saturday night by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) information secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb. Even then the opposition did not categorically announce withdrawal of its threat to stage a sit-in inside the National Assembly, the venue of the OIC event, it nevertheless through the statement assured the foreign ministers of the Muslim countries that upon their arrival and during their stay in Islamabad, “a conducive atmosphere in accordance with the traditional spirit of hospitality, respect and zeal would be ensured”. The threat had been first made by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and was endorsed by PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif. Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) president Maulana Fazlur Rehman and chief of his own faction of Balochistan National Party (BNP), Akhtar Mengal, were also present at the time. ACL0937

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