Pakistan Democratic Movement to hold last public meeting on Sunday in Lahore

Tariq Butt, Correspondent

The 11-party opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) will hold its next and last public meeting in Lahore on Sunday as part of its anti-government protest campaign to force Prime Minister Imran Khan to resign.

The opposition especially the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has done immense mass mobilisation with its vice president Maryam Nawaz leading the drive throughout Lahore over the past few days. She has held rallies and led processions throughout the city where the PML-N has been winning successive elections.

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The meeting will be held at the Minar-e-Pakistan ground where the Lahore administration released water to create problems for the PMD. However, senior PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique says the water has now dried.

This photo shows the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supporters in Multan rally. File photo

The administration has refused permission to the rally in view of the fast spread of COVID-19 pandemic in its second lethal wave.

Dozens of criminal cases have been registered against Maryam and hundreds of political activists for violation of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the coronavirus.

Prior to the Lahore show, the PDM has held public meetings in Gujranwala, Multan, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar.

In the meantime, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is yet to decide about the date of holding a meeting of its Central Executive Committee (CEC) to mull over the PDM decision of resignation from the federal and provincial assemblies. The session is expected during the current month.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks during an event. File photo

Party leaders say there is almost a consensus on following the PDM decision and the CEC would discuss a strategy to make the move effective to get the desired results. The PPP has asked their MPs to get ready for delivering the resignations to the party leadership.

At the same time, the PDM may decide to extend the final date for submitting resignations to the first week of February. The proposal was floated and pondered upon during a meeting between Bilawal and Ms Nawaz.

The fresh proposals become a necessity in view of the alarming corona attack, extreme weather till it opens a bit in February and, above all, mobilisation of the masses. Both the leaders agreed upon three major aspects of the platform’s objectives — the proposed long march, the timing and procedure of submitting the resignations and the all-important post-resignation plan of action.