PPP's plan?

THE PDM faces a fresh crisis as the PPP takes a conspicuously soft position on the long march. While the PDM talks of mass resignations and a 'decisive' march, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari last week said his party hopes to remove Prime Minister Imran Khan's government through a no-confidence move in the National Assembly. Mr Bhutto-Zardari also vowed to persuade members of the opposition alliance to adopt this view, which he said is a 'democratic, constitutional and lawful procedure'. It is unclear how the PPP chairman will achieve this goal, as not only does the opposition not have the numbers in the National Assembly to pull off such a stunt, but street agitation is still very much part of the PDM's plans. When the PDM was formed, the opposition parties at the multiparty conference pledged to topple the government with a three-pronged strategy - the ultimate component was a long march. The PPP, too, has publicly endorsed this position. While toppling a government through democratic means such as no-confidence motions or street agitation is within the rights of the opposition parties, the PPP's volte-face on this key step in the alliance's strategy puts a question mark on the self-proclaimed democratic character of the movement.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari must explain what has...