ISLAMABAD:
Major opposition political parties are preparing for anti-government protests over rising inflation on Friday but are unable to unite as Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) announced their separate plans, highlighting the lack of unity among their ranks.
Some of the parties openly expressed their lack of confidence in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the main opposition party, and therefore decided to stay away from its protest call.
Separate protests are being planned over inflation and governance issues.
TTAP, whose main alliance includes the PTI, is also focusing on demands related to the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and access to medical treatment.
However, despite overlapping anti-government rhetoric and shared criticisms of governance and economic conditions, efforts to create a joint opposition protest front appear unlikely, exposing continued distrust and fragmentation within the opposition camp.
The latest call for protests came from TTAP, which announced nationwide demonstrations on May 22 following an evening alliance meeting attended by PTI leaders and allied opposition figures on Monday.
The announcement came after the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, warned that the opposition would intensify its response if meetings with Imran Khan and demands over his medical treatment were not facilitated.
On the other hand, JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman had already announced protests over inflation and economic conditions during a rally in Karachi on May 15, while JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Tuesday also filed a constitutional petition against rising fuel prices and taxes and announced a nationwide protest movement from May 22 against inflation.
Despite the convergence of protest timelines, senior leaders of both JUI-F and JI indicated that they were not considering participating under a joint protest umbrella led by the TTAP or PTI-backed forces.
Senior JUI-F leader Kamran Murtaza said it was better for each party to hold its own protest, explaining that the JUI-F still had “trust issues” with the PTI.
He said that in previous political engagements, including cooperation on constitutional issues like the 26th Amendment, his party had participated in joint processes, did everything the PTI asked of them, but then felt it was unfairly blamed once those developments concluded.
He suggested that similar concerns persisted in later developments as well, contributing to continued distrust between the two sides despite the opposition’s overlapping positions against the government.
JI Pakistan deputy chief Liaquat Baloch also ruled out the possibility of a joint protest platform, saying each political party had the right to mobilize from its own platform.
Responding to questions about the absence of a joint opposition platform, PTI Sindh provincial president Haleem Adil Sheikh argued that political parties should at least unite on public issues such as inflation and governance, irrespective of broader political disagreements.
He said TTAP had previously attempted to build broader coordination on economic issues, and that Achakzai had earlier conveyed to Fazl during a meeting that while the parties might differ on other political issues, they should at least make a joint announcement on the issue of inflation.
