Pakistan Democratic Movement to begin second phase of anti-govt protests from Wednesday
Dec 22, 2020
Lahore [Pakistan], December 22 : Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an 11-party alliance will begin on Wednesday the second phase of anti-government protest to oust the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government by January 31.
The second phase of movement will start with a public meeting in Mardan on December 23.
"The meeting in Mardan would be followed by another public meeting in Larkana on December 27 on the eve of the death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto," The News International quoted Mian Iftikhar Hussain, PDM spokesman as saying.
The PDM decided to focus on smaller cities for the public meeting. The protest will be held in Bahawalpur on December 30, Malakand on January 03, Bannu on January 06, Khuzdar on January 09, Loralai on January 13, Tharparkar on January 16, Faisalabad on January 18, Sargodha on January 23, and Sialkot on January 27.
The PDM is still in a quandary whether to leave the field of Senate elections open for the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). It was a big question mark before the alliance parties of the PDM as the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) does not want to leave the field open for the ruling PTI and its allies to get maximum seats in the Upper House of the Parliament in the upcoming Senate elections, he added.
The opposition leaders expected to discuss the issue of the Senate election in the next scheduled meeting which is scheduled to be held after December 27 or in early January. Besides that, the PDM, in its meeting, will also decide to take part in the by-election which is being held in Sindh.
According to the notification, issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the bye-elections in Sindh and Balochistan will be held on February 16, while in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on February 19, The News International reported.
In the past months, Imran Khan has stepped up his efforts to silence the voice of PDM along with thousands of people who criticised the government.
Despite such attempts, the PDM has held five such rallies in Multan, Peshawar, Gujranwala, Karachi and Quetta since October 16.
