Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Monday that his party would start its long march towards Islamabad against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government on February 27.

"PTI promised change but after coming to power, the party has only increased inflation and debt," he said while addressing workers convention in Peshawar.

He said that the incumbent government has destroyed the country in the name of change.

Bilawal added that PTI's government had come to power by saying that corruption would be eradicated from the country but during the last three years, it has increased manifold.

"I am not the only one saying that corruption has increased in Pakistan," he said, adding that even Transparency International has said that corruption reached new heights during the current government's tenure.

Last week, Bilawal said that the PPP’s long march against the federal government would likely reach Islamabad on March 6 or 7.

Meanwhile, the Awami National Party (ANP) has announced that it would participate in the PPP’s February 27 long march.

The announcement came after a PPP delegation led by a former opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah met ANP central general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain at the Bacha Khan Markaz.

Earlier, PPP Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman had said that the long march from Karachi was against the government due to increasing unemployment, mismanagement, misery, and corruption.

In a related development, a meeting between Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari is reportedly being held today (Monday) to discuss the planned long march and the possibility of a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

According to media reports, JUI Chief will also host a luncheon or dinner for Zardari at his residence in Islamabad.

Maulana is said to have invited his party’s local leadership of Rawalpindi to finalise the strategy against the government. He and Zardari are expected to take into confidence one another about the details of the meetings held recently with the government allies.

This story was originally published in Business Recorder on February 21, 2022.