September 3 rally: PTI to set up committees to mobilise workers

New city leadership asked to finalise details by today

LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has decided to set up committees in all National Assembly constituencies in the city to mobilise its workers ahead of its Pakistan March from Gujranwala to Lahore on September 3.

The decision was taken on Friday at a meeting of the organising committee formed to oversee preparations for the march. It was chaired by Ejaz Chaudhry, the committee convener. Central Punjab president Aleem Khan and MPA Shoaib Siddiqi were also present.

The task of establishment of these committees was given to the newly-appointed leadership of the party’s Lahore organisation. The district leadership was asked to finalise details of these committees by Saturday (today) and submit a report about it to the organising committee.

The meeting decided to expand the organising committee and recommended that PTI leaders Yasmin Rashid, Shafqat Mahmood, Mehmoodur Rasheed, Murad Raas and Chaudhry Sarwar be added to it. It decided that task-based committees should be set up to look after media and publicity, security and other logistical issues and that meetings should be held on a daily basis till September 3 to review preparations.

Speaking to the media, Chaudhry said that the campaign would not end till action was taken against those mentioned in the Panama Papers. He said the ruling party was already scared of a backlash from the public because of the PTI’s accountability movement.

Aleem Khan said the rally would be a challenge for the people of Lahore but he hoped that they would rise to the task like they had in the past. He said multiple routes would be considered to avoid obstacles the provincial government might create.

On Thursday, Aleem Khan had issued a notification saying that the party organisation in the district would be divided into an urban (covering NA-118 to NA-126) and a rural (NA-127 to NA-130) chapter. Walid Iqbal had been appointed president and Hammad Azhar the general secretary for urban Lahore. Zaheer Abbas Khokhar had been appointed as the president and Ijaz Diyal the general secretary for rural Lahore.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2016.