The Pakistan Democratic Movement has given an ultimatum of January 31 to the government to resign or face a long march by 11-party alliance towards Islamabad. The PDM leadership has asked the workers to prepare themselves for a long march which will be announced on February 1 if the government doesn’t resign by then.
Many important decisions were taken, including the resignation from assemblies and long march, during a meeting of PDM leaders chaired by JUI-F head Maulana Fazl ur Rehman at Jati Umra – the residence of Nawaz Sharif. The PDM leadership was invited at Jati Umra by Maryam Nawaz over a lunch to have deliberations regarding the future line of action of the movement against the government.
“We appeal to the people to start preparations for the long march and the date will be announced on February 1,” said PDM convener Maulana Fazl ur Rehman after the marathon meeting. Briefing the media, he said that all the parliamentarians will submit their resignations to their respective party heads by December 31 and the long march will be announced in February. Terming the PDM’s Lahore rally as a historic and successful show, Maulana said that Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) pressurized the electronic media to disseminate negative propaganda over PDM’s power show.
PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz said that some media channels aired fake stories regarding Lahore rally of PDM as part of their negative propaganda. “It was a successful show against all odds as the weather was extremely cold and the Covid-19 threat also loomed besides the pressure tactics of the government,” she said.
She said the venue of rally should have been expanded because people were standing outside the venue due to lack of space. Some media channels didn’t show the real picture but the international news outlets exposed them by showing the actual picture of the rally, she said, and lauded the PML-N Lahore chapter for making the rally a successful show.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the time for dialogue is over now and that it is time for Imran Khan to resign. When asked some people in his party are against the resignations and even senior PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan has openly said that PPP should not resign from Sindh assembly, Bilawal said that both he and Aitzaz are bound to obey the party’s CEC decisions. “We’ll discuss it in our Central Executive Committee before making any decision,” he said.
On the occasion, the PDM leaders also signed ‘Lahore Declaration’ that was duly signed by Maulana Fazl ur Rehman of JUI-F, Maryam Nawaz of PML-N, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of PPP, Sardar Akhtar Mengal of BNP, Mian Iftikhar of ANP, Mehmood Achakzai of PkMAP, Sajid Mir and Shah Awais Noorani. The meeting was also attended by Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal, Pervaiz Rasheed, Kh Saad Rafique, Maryam Aurangzeb, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Yousaf Raza Gillani, Shery Rehman and Nayyar Bukhari.
Earlier, Maryam Nawaz also chaired a meeting of PML-N Central Executive Committee and Central Working Committee, attended by MNAs, MPAs and senators. The parliamentarians lauded the leadership qualities of Maryam Nawaz and said that she is successfully leading the party in the times of crisis.