Ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided to reply to the 11-party Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) with the first public rally scheduled to be held on November 7 in Hafizabad, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Saturday.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has approved the first public rally of PTI in Hafizabad on November 7 (Sunday). Imran Khan will also participate in the rally.

The PTI has kicked off the preparations for its first political power show in response to the PDM’s three public rallies held in Gujranwala, Karachi and Quetta on October 16, October 18 and October 25 respectively.

The suggestion to hold public rallies was given by PTI Central Punjab President Ejaz Chaudhry.

The TV channel reported that Prime Minister Imran Khan will also inaugurate the foundation stone laying of Hafizabad University and will also announce the establishment of Hafizabad hospital.

It is pertinent to note that PDM’s fourth rally will be held on November 22 in Peshawar. As per the schedule, the opposition alliance will hold the fifth rally in Multan on November 30, sixth rally in Lahore on December 13 and this year’s final public gathering by the PDM will be held in Larkana on December 27.

The Prime Minister had constantly been saying that he would not give NRO to anyone even if all the "chors" and "dacoits" come together against him. However, the PDM leaders termed the incumbent government illegitimate and incompetent and “selected”.

PDM leader and PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz had said the arrest of Captain (retd) Safdar Awan in Karachi was an attempt to create cracks in PDM ranks but they are united. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had constituted a committee on the matter and an inquiry is still underway.

The political temperature has soared in the country with the launch of a new opposition alliance named Pakistan Democratic Movement—an 11 parties’ coalition—launched on September 20 after a PPP-hosted multiparty conference (MPC) in Islamabad.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-Fazl), is the first president of the alliance.