COVID-19: KP govt forms committee to convince PDM to postpone Peshawar rally

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government on Tuesday formed a cabinet coordination committee to apprise opposition leaders about rise in Covid-19 infections in the province.

The KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has formed a five-member committee to convince the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to postpone its Peshawar rally owing to the second wave of coronavirus.

The members of the committee are Akbar Yakoob, Shaukat Yousufzai, Sultan Mehmood, KP Health Minister Taimoor Jhagra and Information adviser Kamran Bangash. The committee has invited opposition parliamentary leaders to the Assembly Secretariat at 4 p.m tomorrow where it will convince leaders of opposition parties to postpone rallies due to rise in Covid cases.

Earlier today, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday rejected the ban imposed by the federal government on public gatherings in the country amid rising COVID-19 cases.

“We reject a ban on public gatherings in the guise of COVID-19 pandemic and they will be held as per schedule,” the JUI-F chief said adding that the incumbent rulers are used to rigging and their tactics are aimed at pressurizing the opposition leaders.

He said that it is not a government formed from the public mandate and therefore they would not hold any sort of negotiations with them. “We also reject the results of the Gilgit Baltistan elections,” Maulana Fazlur Rehman said.