File photo of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari
The protest will commence from Karachi on Feb. 27 and is expected to reach Islamabad around March 8
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)’s planned long march on the federal capital will commence from the mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam in Karachi on Feb. 27 at 10 a.m. and is expected to reach Islamabad in 10 days after passing through 34 cities and towns of the country.
According to a statement issued by the PPP’s Central Media Office, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has approved the route plan. It said that the long march was expected to reach the federal capital around March 8.
According to the ‘Awami March’ plans, the demonstration would pass through the following major towns and cities of Sindh and Punjab before reaching Islamabad: Thatta, Sujawa, Badin, Hyderabad, Hala, Nawabshah, Moro, Khairpur, Sukkur, Ghotki, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Lodhran, Multan, Khanewal, Chichawatni, Sahiwal, Okara, Patoki, Lahore, Gujranwala, Lala Musa, Jhelum, Gujjar Khan, and Rawalpindi.
The PPP chairman would address the march’s participants and supporters at Nasir Bagh in Lahore on Sunday (March 6), per the schedule released by the party.
The party has not yet disclosed its choice for the Islamabad venue it plans to register its protest at; earlier marches have opted for D-Chowk, Aabpara Chowk or the Faizabad Intersection. It has also not confirmed the duration of its stay in Islamabad, with the party leadership previously maintaining that indefinite sit-ins rarely succeed in achieving any goals.
The PPP announced that it would stage its long march on Islamabad from Feb. 27 last month, shortly after the multiparty opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement had announced it would hold a long march against inflation on Islamabad on March 23. In a press conference, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said he was “under pressure” from his party workers to expedite the ouster of the PTI-led government, as it had brought the country “on the brink of disaster.”