-PDM leaders ask government to quit by January 31st or face intensified opposition
-PDM Alliance rejects government’s call for dialogue
-Maulana directs supporters to start preparations for Long March towards Islamabad
By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: The opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on Monday demanded the PTI-led government to quit by January 31 or face an intensified opposition movement including a long march to the capital.
The demand was made by PDM president Maulana Fazlur Rehman while speaking to the media in Lahore alongside PML-N’s Maryam Nawaz, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and other opposition leaders.
As part of the anti-government movement, Rehman said lawmakers from PDM member parties in the national and provincial assemblies will hand in their resignations to their party leaders by December 31.
“Today we want to make clear to the government that it should resign by January 31,” the JUI-F leader said.
He said if the government refuses to quit by that time, a meeting of the PDM’s leadership on February 1 will announce a long march towards Islamabad, the date of which will also be decided during the meeting.
“All party workers in PDM and the people of Pakistan are appealed to start preparations for the long march from today,” Rehman added. He said following Sunday’s “historic” PDM public gathering at the Minar-i-Pakistan in Lahore, PDM leaders had today signed a detailed communique in continuation of the opposition’s objectives. He said the schedules issued by PDM’s steering committee to provinces for preparations of the planned long march will remain in effect.
Moreover, He said that the hours-long huddle of the PDM today was aimed at finalizing and announcing the basic motive behind the movement.
“All parties have signed the charter of the PDM today,” said Fazlur Rehman. He said that the provincial leaderships have been conveyed the schedule of the long march schedule, who would prepare for the event at local levels.
He added that the heads and representatives of the PDM’s constituent parties will form committees in their respective provinces and will work on preparations for the long march. “During today’s meeting, anger was also expressed at the way the military’s media affairs wing put pressure on electronic media for negative propaganda against the rally.” We have to make this conspiracy a failure, he said.
Earlier on Sunday, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that the opposition would march towards Islamabad at the end of January or in early February. He made the announcement while speaking during the PDM public gathering at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore on Sunday.
