Pakistan opposition alliance to undertake protest in Islamabad on March 25 due to OIC meeting

Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) president Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday asked leaders of the opposition parties to undertake the long march on March 25 to counter the government's alleged attempt to forcibly stop lawmakers from entering the Parliament House on the no-trust motion.

Fazlur Rehman said the change in the schedule for the long march has been made due to the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting that is slated to be held on March 24.

He informed reporters after completing the meeting of the steering committee of the joint opposition, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported on Wednesday.

PDM has given a call to its workers and the public to begin their long march towards Islamabad on Pakistan Day on March 23 to stage a possible sit-in to counter the government's alleged attempt to forcibly stop lawmakers from entering the Parliament House to cast vote on the no-trust motion.

Rehman said that they had made this decision due to the presence of foreign ministers of Islamic countries in Islamabad for the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting and they don't want to create any problems for the foreign dignitaries. As the OIC delegates will leave the country by March 24, the alliance will continue their march on March 25.

PDM chief informed that they had given the call for their long march three months ago. He further stated that soon PTI's allies will break their ties with PTI and will join the opposition parties, claiming that matters between them had almost settled.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q) has decided to support that side which will offer them the Punjab CM's slot, Pakistani channel ARY News reported citing the sources.

The leaders of PML-Q would prefer to settle the matters with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government but the term of assemblies should be completed, sources added.

The demand for the Punjab CM slot came at the time when the reports of the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) leader and the Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz's nomination for the next Punjab CM came forward.

The Opposition parties in Pakistan are jettisoning mutual hatred to oust Imran Khan as they submitted the no-trust motion in the National Assembly secretariat on March 8. While the Imran Khan government has exuded confidence to defeat the no-trust motion, the Opposition is sure that they will oust Khan.

( With inputs from ANI )