RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice-president Maryam Nawaz on Saturday vowed to strongly resist the promulgation of ordinance aimed at holding Senate polls through open ballot.

Maryam Nawaz met Maulana Fazlur Rehman who is also president of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), and discussed the opposition parties’ joint strategy with regard to forthcoming Senate elections, the promulgation of the Elections (Amendment) Ordinance 2021, the PDM’s March 26 “long march” and other issues with regard to the anti-government movement.

Sources said that the two leaders particularly exchanged views on the PTI government’s plan of holding Senate elections through open ballot by promulgating the presidential ordinance.

They said that the two leaders vowed to strongly resist any change in the procedure of the Senate election process through an ordinance, adding that the two also deliberated upon the possibility of challenging the ordinance in the court.

However, they said that it was decided that a meeting of the PDM steering committee would soon be convened to formulate a joint strategy in this regard.

The two leaders also reviewed the strategy for contesting the Senate elections jointly, the sources said, adding that a mechanism for the “long march” towards Islamabad from all the provincial capitals on March 26 was also discussed.