PPP Terms PDM ‘Redundant' As Party’s Long March Reaches Sukkur

PPP Terms PDM ‘Redundant' As Party’s Long March Reaches Sukkur
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has claimed that the long march, now in its fourth day, has made the nine-party opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) redundant.

“The PDM remained a vibrant platform until the PPP, the founder of the alliance, was part of it. After the Awami march, there will be no need for the PDM,” Punjab PPP general-secretary Syed Hassan Murtaza said without further comment on Tuesday.

Before its scheduled arrival in Islamabad on March 8th, the PPP long march is slated to pass through 37 cities and town. On Wednesday, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was leading the march from IBA Sukkur.

At speeches to big crowds in Moro, Hallani, Karipur and Sukkur, in Sindh, Bilawal dismissed the prime minister's recently announced relief measures as a political stunt, and said these initiatives would not help the common man.

Opposition alliance PDM had also proposed its own long march to Islamabad for later in March. During a meeting between PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) chief Fazlur Rehman on February 22, it emerged that the PDM had chosen to support the PPP's long march, as well.

Insider sources have claimed that the PPP long march will likely culminate in the oppositions move to bring a vote of no-confidence which the opposition has been busy amassing support for in recent weeks.