People are as desperate for change now as they were in mid-1980s.
DUBAI: The success of the PTI’s Lahore rally will be followed by similar successes in other cities like Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Mianwali and probably Multan, where disenchantment is quite entrenched now against both the PML-N and the PPP.
The response in cities like Multan and Jhang will depend upon the rallies in Gujranwala, Faisalabad and on leaders of mainstream parties like Khurshid Kasuri and Shah Mahmood Qureshi. People are as desperate for a change now as they were in the mid-1980s against what they see as repressive rule by a party mired in corruption. The PTI should do well in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as well, thanks in large part due to its leader’s anti-America stance and his constant opposition to US drone attacks.
Khalid Javed
Published in The Express Tribune, November 3rd, 2011.
