ISLAMABAD: An alliance of Pakistan's leading opposition parties on Thursday announced its decision to stage a long march against the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) administration on March 26 after deliberating its future strategy in a lengthy session that lasted for more than five hours.
The opposition's Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance also decided to jointly contest the upcoming Senate elections and categorically rejected a new constitutional amendment presented by the government in the National Assembly to introduce open balloting in the Senate polls.
"It appears that the PTI does not trust its own members and want such individuals to contest elections that its own members are not ready to vote for," said the PDM president, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, while addressing a news conference after the opposition session.
He added that the alliance also rejected an inquiry commission established by the government to investigate the Broadsheet scam under a former Supreme Court judge, Azmat Saeed Sheikh.
The PDM questioned the government's decision of announcing development funds for lawmakers ahead of the Senate polls, pointing out that Prime Minister Imran Khan previously maintained that these funds were used by successive administrations to "bribe" legislators.
The opposition alliance, which was formed last September to bring down the government, also focused on spiraling inflation and said that it would continue to voice concerns of ordinary citizens who find it extremely difficult to meet the rising costs of petrol, electricity, gas and food items.
The PDM leader said the opposition would take any decision about resigning from the national and provincial assemblies or bringing a no-confidence motion against the government after the Senate elections.
