An alliance of Pakistan’s leading opposition parties kicked off a two-day conference in the capital city on Wednesday to demand rule of law and “supremacy of the constitution” in the country, calling on the government to refrain from committing alleged rights abuses.
The meeting has been organized by the six-party Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (or the Movement to Protect the Constitution of Pakistan) at Islamabad’s Legend Hotel. Leaders from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), Awam Pakistan, Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) parties and others are attending the conference.
Pakistan’s leading opposition parties have accused the ruling coalition government of cracking down on opposition supporters, resorting to rights abuses, interfering in judicial matters and passing legislation to stifle dissent. The government rejects these allegations and accuses the opposition of creating hurdles in its mission to reform Pakistan’s economy.
Led by former prime minister Imran Khan’s PTI, the multi-party opposition alliance has also demanded the government investigate alleged irregularities in the February 2024 general election. “We demand supremacy of the constitution and rule of law in Pakistan,” former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, leader of the Awaam Pakistan party, told participants at the conference. He said lawyers, journalists, intellectuals and members of the civil society had been invited on the first day of the conference to present their point of view on the state of affairs regarding the rule of law and constitution in Pakistan.
“Till we do not have supremacy of the constitution, there will be political turmoil in the country,” Abbasi said. “And if there is political turmoil, the economy cannot move forward, the country cannot move forward.”
In a post on social media platform X, the PTI said it was being represented at the conference by the party chairman Gohar Ali Khan and opposition leader Omar Ayub.
SIC Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza and PkMAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai also attended the event.
Later, the Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan accused the government of pressuring an Islamabad hotel’s administration to revoke permission for the second day of its two-day conference, which was being held at the venue, but vowed to proceed with the event. Pakistan has been plagued with political turmoil since Khan was ousted as prime minister via a parliamentary vote in April 2022. He was later convicted in a slew of charges and sent to jail in August 2023.
