Islamabad: Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-Fazl) party, has been named the first President of the oppositions Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), after his unanimous nomination by the heads of all the constituent parties.
He was named PDM President after the opposition alliance’s first formal meeting through video link on Saturday, reports Dawn news.
According to PDM’s steering committee convener Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif proposed Maulana’s nameand it was endorsed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and others.
Sources told Dawn news that Sharif had initially proposed that Maulana Fazl should be appointed as the president on a permanent basis, but the idea was opposed by Bhutto-Zardari and Awami National Party (ANP) leader Amir Haider Hoti, who suggested that the office should be given on a rotational basis to leaders of the constituent parties.
The sources said there was an agreement among the leaders that the Maulana should lead the PDM in the first phase as he had already led last year’s ‘Azadi March’ against the incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government. (IANS)
