Opposition alliance PDM decided to go ahead with long march on 23rd March

 No decision yet on vote of no-confidence against the PTI government 

Opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leadership in its meeting on Tuesday decided to go ahead with its planned long march to Islamabad on March 23. PDM has rejected the request of PTI government to change the date of long march due to Pakistan Day parade and OIC special session. PDM chief maulana Fazlur Rehman announced the decisions of the PDM meeting in a press conference. 

Chief of  Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Maulana Fazlur Rehman announced that the anti-inflation long march will go ahead on March 23, as planned, despite the government's attempts to dissuade the alliance from holding it on the date, as it coincides with the annual Pakistan Day parade.

In addition, a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will be held in the capital a day earlier, on March 22, due to which a curfew will be imposed.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman seemed unperturbed by either, telling the media: "PDM will enter Islamabad, and they knew such a big march is due that day. Under which conspiracy did they make such recommendations?"

"As far as the parade is concerned, it takes place from morning to afternoon and we have to come in the afternoon, so there is no conflict."

                                           

A multi-party session, under the chairmanship of the PDM chief, was held prior to the press conference, to deliberate the strategy for the long march against rising inflation and unemployment in the country.

Fazlur Rehman, during the media briefing, said that the PDM "rejects the mini-budget" and demands that it be "taken back", in reference to the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2021, passed by the National Assembly on January 13.

"The way they themselves are toys, they have turned the country's economy into a plaything, and every other day continue to make a mockery of the people's rights," he said.

He also announced the PDM's support for a number of issues such as the farmers' woes regarding the unavailability of fertiliser, Balochistan's rights when it comes to the Reko Diq case and its mineral resources, Sindh's rights over the Bundal and Bundoo islands, and the rights of the people of the merged districts.

In addition, he spoke of the Murree tragedy which saw the deaths of at least 22 people, who died in their vehicles amid unprecedented snowfall, saying that action was taken against "smaller players". He said Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar and PM Imran Khan "should instead have resigned".

Speaking of the viability of a no-trust bid against the government, he said it would require "unity among all parties".

During his press conference, the Maulana also touched on all the things discussed during today's meeting and came down hard on the government for its alleged failure in effectively tackling the country's issues.

Commenting on the Transparency International (TI) report released earlier today, the PDM chief said that the government had labeled all opposition leaders as corrupt and called them thieves. "But the TI report has laid bare their artificial honesty."

He went on to say that the current PTI government had proven to be the most incompetent and unsuccessful in the country's history. "Despite this, they are trying to gear up for the next elections and are planning to do rigging using electronic voting machines (EVMs)."

He added that Prime Minister Imran Khan had been proven a criminal in the foreign funding case and had hidden around 26 accounts. He called on the election commission to conduct daily hearings in the case, to disqualify the prime minister and to ban the PTI. "Parties formed by external powers are not the true representatives of the people."

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