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Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari announced on Thursday his complete support for Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s anti-government protest and said his party would welcome the ‘Azadi March’.

There was a unanimous decision that Bilawal will not attend the march, but a few members of the PPP would.

Addressing the media after the meeting, Bilawal reiterated that his party backed the anti-government march. “Staging a sit-in is Maulana’s [Fazl] democratic and constitutional right and we fully support that,” he said.

He said the Sindh government would facilitate the JUI-F in making its Azadi march successful. The provincial government will ensure that the marchers from Sindh do not face any difficulties in their journey towards Islamabad.

“We are not aware of the schedule of the Azadi march yet. Our leaders will welcome the participants of the march in their respective areas,” Bilawal said.

“We still don’t believe in the politics of staging sit-ins, but now that the PTI government is continuing to ignore parliament and oppressing political rivals, we might consider taking extreme measures.”

Highlighting the need for the opposition parties to stand united, the PPP chairman criticized the PTI government for the “economic persecution” of the masses.

Bilawal has summoned a meeting on Thursday to finalize the PPP’s stance over the Azadi March.

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