Staff Report
Islamabad: The opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has announced it will stage a long march against the PTI government on March 26. Speaking to reporters after an hours-long meeting of the alliance’s leadership in Islamabad, PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the opposition parties in PDM will contest the upcoming Senate elections jointly.
On Sunday, PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had called upon the joint opposition to “force the removal of puppets”, after the January 31 deadline set by the PDM for Prime Minister Imran Khan to quit passed without any signs of the government retreating.
After a meeting of the leadership of its member parties, the PDM in December had given a deadline to the government to step down by Jan 31, with the warning that a march on Islamabad would otherwise result in its ouster.
“In case the government does not step down, the date of the long march will be announced on Feb 1. We ask the people of Pakistan to start preparations for the long march from today,” PDM chief Rehman had told a presser after presiding over the meeting. The government had swiftly rejected the deadline.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto chaired Thursday a party consultative session which the sources confirmed rejected en masse resignations recommendation circulated by the opposition alliance PDM as a bid to bring down the incumbent government.
