A march in March: Shafaqna Exclusive

by Tauqeer Abbas
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The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on Thursday announced to stage a long march against the PTI government on March 26, seen as one of the major components of the opposition’s anti-government movement started last year.PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira says that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leadership has decided that the long march will not be a one-day sitting. While it has announced that caravans will march to Islamabad on March 26, no details have been shared about the alliance’s strategy.

The PDM constituent parties have also collected the resignations of their lawmakers in the national and provincial assemblies, but have decided against submitting them for now. As for the long march announcement, it looks more like a formality, a face-saving attempt, rather than a serious proposition to occupy the streets unto the resignation from the country’s top elected office. The long march is timed after the Senate vote, which will actually be a test case on whether the alliance should risk going ahead with a no-confidence motion against the PM. So it’s pretty clear that the PPP’s stance – and not the PML-N’s – will now guide the PDM’s politics.

Maulana Fazlur Rahman and PML-N leaders including Mian Nawaz Sharif, who spoke by video link at the meeting on Thursday, have insisted that they are standing steadfast and continuing their movement. But there is no sign that this movement can in any way succeed. And if there is something more than appears in the visible picture, this is something that will be revealed only in the coming weeks. For now, we can only say the PDM appears to have lost the drive which took it forward and led to explosive speeches being delivered.

It seems that PDM has lost its charm and it is well aware of its internal cracks. The task to dethrone Imran Khan seems in limbo. Now the PDM has only one apparent task and that is to give Government a tough time and create hurdles in the way of governance so that PTI may fizzle out in the next general elections. Now it is not a move to topple Government but a preparation for the upcoming elections.

Shafaqna Pakistan

pakistan.shafaqna.com

 

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