Dharna politics: Imran turns focus on Punjab to make sit-in a success

PTI will soon form different committees to mobilise public

ISLAMABAD: Leaving no chances for its adversary to capitalise on its weaknesses, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is going to the extreme to make sure it succeeds in mobilising maximum public support in Punjab and attracting ‘electables’ from mainstream political parties to its fold.

In this regard, Imran will visit different cities of Punjab and stay there the next few days to not only attract public participation in the planned November 2 sit-in, but to also unofficially hold meetings with electable, in a bid to lure them to the party’s ranks.

The PTI chairman will leave for Faisalabad today (Thursday) where he would meet and address party activists and workers.

On Wednesday, two PML-Q dissents – former federal minister Hamid Yar Hiraj and former leader of the opposition in the Punjab Assembly Muhammad Yar Hiraj – announced their joining the PTI.

Imran’s anti-government campaign will be stepped up in the days to come with more politicians joining the party. “A most senior PPP leader from Gujranwala, a renowned columnist and former PML-N leader from Chakwal and a former Attock Nazim will be prominent among a number of other leaders who will soon announce their joining the PTI,” a senior PTI leader confided.

He said politicians hailing from the PML-Q and the PPP, who want to do active politics in their constituencies but unable to do so due to their party’s ever-sinking popularity in Punjab.

The media and marketing department of the PTI is currently busy preparing videos on the pattern of one showed by Imran in the Raiwind rally.

Imran will also hold public gatherings in  a number of districts including Jehlum, Attock, Chakwal, Rawalpindi, Mianwali, Bhakkar, Sargodha, Khoshab and Faisalabad where he would address representatives of lawyers, farmers, trade unions, professionals, etc., as part of the PTI’s planned “awareness campaign” aimed at “exposing corruption of the rulers”.

A senior party leader from the Rawalpindi district, who along with other office-bearers from the district, held over an hour-long meeting with Imran Khan on Tuesday, said Khan Sahib had desired that party leaders from the Rawalpindi districts and its adjoining districts should ensure bringing more and more people from their constituencies to the protest venue.

“No doubt Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is a stronghold [of the PTI] and the majority of participants will be coming from that province. But, this time around Imran Khan is focusing more in terms of pulling crowd towards Islamabad from Punjab,” he said.

According to an initial plan, sporadic sit-ins would be staged at the same time at major thoroughfares, entry and exist points -- including Red Zone of the federal capital.

When contacted, PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said senior leadership was still busy in finalising the protest plan in detail.

“All available options while living within the ambit of democratic norms of protest will be exercised during the protest campaign,” Qureshi said, adding that one thing was clear: that the government would not be allowed to function from November 2.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2016.