PDM gears up for anti-govt long march, mass resignations

ISLAMABAD: The steering committee meeting of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on Sunday while agreeing to accelerate the anti-government movement, has prepared recommendations regarding long march and resignations from assemblies.

A virtual meeting of PDM’s steering committee was held under the chairmanship of PML-N senior vice president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in which Senator Mir Kabir, Hafiz Hamdullah, Kashif Randhawa and Dr Jahanzeb Jamaldini participated.

According to sources, the meeting discussed the future strategy of the PDM, including the Long March and tender resignations from assemblies.

The committee members were agreed to hold protest rallies in all four provinces before the long march and it was also decided that the time and date of the long march and resignations would be decided by the PDM summit.

Sources said that the recommendations of the steering committee will be presented tomorrow at the PDM summit chaired by Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

Earlier, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met Jamiat e Ulema Islam (JUI-F) and Pakistan Democratic Movement Chief Maulana Fazl ur Rehman, after the ice started melting between them.

Also read: Negative politics of PDM cannot survive in ‘Naya’ Pakistan: CM Buzdar

During the meeting in Islamabad, both the leaders decided to give the government a tough time in the parliament.

Is PPP rejoining PDM?

Although some sources are claiming that PPP had agreed to rejoin the PDM and this was also discussed during the meeting but Bilawal had refuted this by saying that rejoining the PDM was not discussed during the meeting.

Sources said that leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and senior PPP leader Khursheed Shah played a major role in melting the ice between the PPP and PDM.

 ‘PML-N’s faction not in favour of PPP joining PDM’

Sources told Bol News that although the PPP and PDM are together on the floor of the house on almost all the issues but there’s one resistant group in the PML-N which is not in favour of the PPP’s formally rejoining the alliance as they believe that the PPP and PTI made fun of the PML-N supremo when he went to England due to his illness. Likewise, the PPP has some concerns about rejoining the alliance as they believe that they had been insulted or ridiculed on the issue of resignations from the assemblies.