Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb on Saturday announced the schedule of PML-N workers’ conventions and opposition’s countrywide rallies under the banner of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), a private TV channel reported.
She said that the PDM’s first rally will take place on October 16 in Gujranwala. The second rally will be held in Karachi on October 18, third in Quetta on October 25 while the PDM will hold its fourth rally on November 22 in Peshawar. She said that the opposition alliance will hold fifty rally in Multan on November 30, sixth rally in Lahore on December 13 and this year’s final public gathering will be held in Larkana on December 27.
Meanwhile, PML-N leader Khurram Dastgir warned on Saturday that they will hold the opposition rally scheduled for Oct 16 in Gujranwala on GT Road if permission isn’t granted for organising the public meeting at Jinnah Stadium.
The PML-N leader was talking about a rally planned by the recently formed Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) which is going to hold a series of gatherings across the country in October, November and December as part of the mass-contact drive against the government.
Khurram said the first application was submitted on Oct 3 with another one presented as a reminder on Oct 9 (Friday). The PML-N lawmakers as well as party officials and its lawyer’s wing members were also present at Saturday’s meeting, he added.
The PML-N leader said the rally would be held at every cost. He, however, noted that some other elements wanted to hold a rally on GT Road on the same day which might cause law and order situation in the city. “Gujranwala is PML-N’s city. The citizens want its security more than you [district administration],” he remarked.
In accordance with its social mobilisation plan, the PML-N, while picking up the pace of its political activities to build the momentum for running a decisive movement against the government from the PDM platform, has announced holding seven workers’ conventions throughout Punjab.
Interestingly, the party seems to have skipped a protest demonstration against the arrest of its President Shehbaz Sharif, which was scheduled to be held on October 9 in Punjab.
The decision regarding holding workers’ conventions was announced during a PML-N Punjab chapter meeting presided over by party provincial President Rana Sanaullah and attended by senior leaders, including all divisional and district presidents and general secretaries. It was announced during the meeting that the party would organise seven conventions throughout the province.
As per the schedule, the first convention would be held in Rawalpindi on October 13, in DG Khan on November 5, in Bahawalpur on November 26, in Faisalabad December on 3, in Sahiwal on December 6, in Sargodha on December 9 and in Gujrawala on December 11.
The PML-N Punjab chapter also vowed its all-out support for Nawaz Sharif’s movement for supremacy of law and Constitution in the country. It condemned the ‘political victimisation’ of PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz.
It was announced that the PML-N Punjab chapter had completed its provincial reorganisation. Sharif is expected to address the PML-N Punjab chapter soon. The meeting also reviewed arrangements for the October 16 Gujranwala PDM power show. The party also announced observing October 12 as a black day to mark the 21st anniversary of Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf’s 1999 coup. It announced holding four protest demonstrations at four divisional headquarters of Punjab.
According to Punjab spokesperson Azma Bukhari, these protest demonstrations would be held in Rawalpindi, Multan, DG Khan and Bahawalpur. Regarding the change in their social mobilisation plan announced on October 1, according to which a protest demonstration was to be organised on October 9 against the arrest of Shehbaz, she said that the party would have followed its social mobilisation plan as announced if the PDM had stuck to its schedule of public gatherings. She said that after the October 16 rally was converted into a PDM show, the party had to modify its social mobilisation plan.
