As part of the ongoing anti-government movement, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on Saturday announced the schedule for protests to be held in different cities of Balochistan, with JUI-F Secretary-General Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri directing the opposition to ensure their participation.

In this connection, 24NewsHD TV channel said the first of these protests would be held in Quetta on December 21 followed by in Khuzdar on January 2 and Loralai and Zhob on January 13. 

The TV channel had earlier reported that similar protests would be held on December 23 in Mardan, Bahawalpur on 26th, Sargodha on 28th, Karachi on January 4, Bannu on 6th and Gujranwala 9th of January.

Haideri gave these directions as PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PML-N Vice-president Maryam Nawaz at a joint press conference on Friday again ruled out any possibility of talks with the government or giving NRO to Prime Minister Imran Khan.

These protests are part of the PDM strategy to mobilise the public and build up pressure on the government before the planned long march. It had announced that the opposition parties would block highways during the process and might also go for a wheel-jam strike across the country separately.

However, the future course of action will be announced tomorrow (December 13) at the PDM rally in Lahore – a power show that has attained great significance amid the hurdles being created by the government and the city being a PML-N stronghold.

The protests in different cities are a precursor to the long march which will reportedly enter Islamabad next month on January 25. JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman – who is also the PDM head – is expected to hand over the resignations soon after that to National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser.

All the opposition lawmakers will submit their resignations to their respective party heads after the December 13 rally in Lahore.

As far as the long march planning is concerned, Fazl will leave for Islamabad from Sukkur via Bahawalpur and Multan. Similarly, PML-N Vice-president Maryam Nawaz and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari are scheduled to lead their caravans from Lahore and Karachi respectively.

Meanwhile, the ANP leadership and QWP chief Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao will lead the marchers from Peshawar with Mehmood Khan Achakzai of PkMAP, former chief minister Abdul Malik and Akhtar Mengal of BNP-M leaving along with their supporters from Quetta.