By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The opposition parties agreed on Friday to push for an all-parties conference to address the creation of new provinces, along with law and order and the state of the economy, following a meeting between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl leaders in Islamabad.
Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, chairman of PTI, told reporters outside the residence of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman that the two parties had agreed to consult political parties across the spectrum before taking any position on matters of national significance.
“Today was the first meeting regarding the joint opposition,” Gohar said, adding that the parties had “decided that on all national issues, we will take political parties into confidence.” He said the prevailing law and order situation, the economy, inflation, lawlessness and the question of new provinces were among the issues that made an all-parties conference necessary.
The PTI chairman described the meeting as a positive development and said he expected the consultations to continue. He noted that discussions on joining the proposed long march had not yet concluded, even as the two sides explored participation in the planned all-parties conference.
The delegation, which included Salman Akram Raja, Asad Qaiser, Firdous Shamim Naqvi and Hussain Ahmad Yousafzai, was received by Maulana Fazlur Rehman along with senior JUI-F figures Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and Maulana Asad Mahmood.
Talks extend to September 27 march
According to a statement issued by the Tehreek-i-Tahaffuz-i-Ayeen-i-Pakistan, the opposition alliance chaired by Mahmood Khan Achakzai, the two delegations held what it described as detailed discussions on the proposed conference and on PTI’s planned protest on September 27. The statement said the meeting also touched on strengthening the country’s constitutional and democratic institutions, and on the need for what it called mutual consultation and a joint political struggle to uphold the rule of law.
Speaking separately to journalists, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri welcomed the PTI delegation and said the talks had covered the proposed conference, the question of new provinces and other outstanding issues. He argued that political parties needed to act collectively to address the country’s problems, pointing out that other parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami, were already protesting against inflation, and that JUI-F itself had held rallies on the issue across the country.
Achakzai signals urgency
In a post on X, Achakzai, who leads the opposition in the National Assembly, said he and Senate Opposition Leader Raja Nasir Abbas had met separately with the PTI delegation and agreed that an all-parties conference should be convened “at the earliest,” citing what he called Pakistan’s deteriorating situation. He said a further meeting was scheduled for September 15 to assess progress, with political parties to be contacted “as soon as possible” so the conference could go ahead.
Achakzai added that consultations were already under way over arranging a meeting between the offices of the leader of the opposition and the prime minister, following a letter from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. He said an earlier meeting of opposition leaders, held under his chairmanship in the chamber of Raja Nasir Abbas, had also discussed the September 27 protest.
Friday’s meeting builds on discussions that began on 20 August, when the TTAP and JUI-F first announced plans to establish what they called a “united opposition.” Speaking at the time, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said an all-parties conference had already come under discussion between the two sides as part of a wider conversation on cooperation and future political strategy.
Government’s own reform debate
The opposition’s push comes as the government grapples with its own unresolved argument over how Pakistan should be administratively restructured. The debate was triggered in July when Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the country’s governance system had “collapsed” and called for fundamental reform, arguing that Pakistan should move towards new administrative units with greater powers devolved to lower levels of government. He later stood by that assessment, saying the system had been “completely destroyed,” though he clarified that he had been describing its decline over the past eight decades rather than criticising any particular government.
Naqvi returned to the issue on 5 September, saying that any new administrative units would have to reflect the wishes of the public. “Reset does not mean breaking down the system. Reset means making wrongs right,” he said, adding that the government would only proceed if it had the backing of the Pakistani people.
The debate widened further when Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal called for a national conversation on the country’s administrative structure, floating a proposal for between 12 and 15 provinces.
The idea has exposed divisions within the governing coalition itself. The Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the two main partners in the ruling alliance, remain split on whether new administrative units or provinces should be created at all — a disagreement that is likely to shape how any all-parties conference, should one materialise, ultimately proceeds.
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