THE opposition alliance ‘Pakistan Democratic Movement’ (PDM) has revived its plan for a march on Islamabad but this time attributing it to the inflation, an issue that appeals to the people more than anything else in the prevailing circumstances.
At its meeting held in Islamabad on Monday, it decided to hold the Inflation March on Pakistan Day.
However, according to reports, the alliance could not arrive at a consensus decision on the critical issue of tendering resignations from the national and provincial assemblies, claiming that its timing has been left to the political parties.
The decision is reflective of a subtle change in the overall thinking of the leadership of the PDM as, instead of linking the march to the avowed objective of the alliance to cause the fall of the Government, it has been associated with the phenomenon of price-hike, which is a genuine grievance of the masses.
However, the political motives are obvious as the march has been delayed to March despite the fact that people are crying hard now due to superflation.
The timing is, otherwise, understandable as it would be next to impossible to organize an impressive march and hold a longer sit-in at Islamabad due to the chilling cold of winter that makes it almost difficult to make required logistic arrangements at the desired scale and level for a longer duration.
As for resignations, there are reports of differences among the constituent parties and these differences have been camouflaged, at least, for the next three months.
It is also a fact that neither the march nor the option of resignations can become an effective tool for the opposition if PPP is not taken on board and the party seems to be least interested to dent a system that it is part of.
Irrespective of the political motives of the PDM decisions, the focus of the alliance on inflation is welcome and hopefully this would increase pressure on the Government to review its economic policies and provide relief to the people.
