PDM march to enter capital after OIC FMs’ departure: Fazl

ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the opposition parties, chaired by Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) President Maulana Fazlur Rehman, has decided that their long march will enter the federal capital on March 25, after departure of the participants in the OIC Foreign Ministers session, for a public meeting and sit-in on the Constitution Avenue.

Fazl, also the chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUIF), told the media after a PDM steering committee meeting that the opposition long march would start from every nook and cranny of the country on March 23, and enter Islamabad on March 25 evening.

He said those attending the OIC Foreign Ministers meeting on March 22-23 were respectable to all and the opposition also wanted that due respect be given to them. “That is why, we are directing our leaders and workers that they should refrain from entering Islamabad before March 25,” he added.

The JUIF leader said he was announcing the programme of March 23 long march and gathering on the Constitution Avenue on behalf of all the opposition parties. "The guests coming from the OIC member countries should not face any problem on their arrival and departure," he added.

To a question, the Maulana agreed with statement of Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi that tilt of the government’s allies was 100 per cent towards the opposition parties. He said that allies were no more with the government and the opposition was in contact with them and remaining details with them would also be finalised shortly.

He told a questioner that the opposition was not in competition with the government to hold a public meeting on the Constitution Avenue. “We had already made announcement about our March 23 long march, and we are going ahead with the same plan,” he added.

The opposition leaders, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Khwaja Saad Rafique, Yusuf Raza Gilani, Khurshid Shah, Naveed Qamar, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Awais Noorani, Mohsin Dawar and others attended the meeting.

Senior PPP leaders -- Yusuf Raza Gilani, Khurshid Shah and Naveed Qamar -- attended the PDM steering committee meeting on special invitation.