While talking to media on Friday after the defeat of opposition alliance in Senate chairman election, the chief of Pakistan Democratic Movement, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, emphasised mass mobilisation as more powerful tool against the government.

“If we keep participating and putting our trust in elections then people will think they (opposition) are not fighting for us instead they are fighting for their seats,” said Fazl.

He further said that the government’s win in Senate election would not affect PDM.

The PDM chief also said that from starting he was not in much favor of contesting byelections and Senate polls but after all, according to him, there was consensus in PDM about participating in elections.

“This is the time we need to reach out to people (…) nation asks you (opposition) when will you become our voice?,” Fazl continued.

Commenting on the opposition’s shocking defeat in the election, he said that it was a case of “engineering” and without the involvement of “alien forces” it was never possible.

The PDM chief said that the opposition would decide its future strategy regarding the upcoming long march on March 15.

According to him, long march will only be beneficial if the issue of resigning from parliament is seriously taken.

Telephonic Conversation

Local media reported on Saturday that PDM’s senior leadership (Fazlur Rehman, Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif) had spoken to each other on telephone.

The leaders agreed to find out the reasons behind their loss in the elections by investigating all the opposition senators suspected to be ‘close’ to elected Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani.

They also discussed preparations for the PDM’s upcoming long march scheduled on March 26.