PTI to hold last rally in Kashmore on May 24

In Ramazan, the party will solely focus on intra-party elections

ISLAMABAD: The PTI will call an end to the first phase of its ‘mass contact drive’ after holding a last public gathering in this connection on May 24 in Kandh Kot area of Sindh’s Kashmore district.

Party chairman Imran Khan had kicked off the drive on April 28 at a public rally in Islamabad, declaring that the sole target of the campaign was to force Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to step down so that the joint investigation team [JIT] formed by the Supreme Court to probe his alleged graft might work independently.



Under the plan, the PTI - during the month of Ramazan which is likely to start from May 27 - will solely focus on its overdue intra-party elections.

The first phase of the party elections will be held on June 11 in which over 2.4 million registered party members will directly elect the top-tier leadership, including the chairman.

Meanwhile, senior leadership from Punjab has been tasked to contact potential electable and persuade them to join the PTI. “Significant developments in this regard are expected during the coming month, with the PTI hoping to lure various political figures from Punjab,” said a leader privy to the developments.

During its mass contact drive, the PTI organised sizable rallies in eight different cities of the four provinces. The party chairman addressed the rallies in Islamabad [April 28], Karachi [April 30], Nowshera [May 5], Sialkot [May 7], Sargodha [May 12], Abbotabad [May 14] and Quetta [May 19].

During these rallies, the PTI targeted the PML-N in general, and the PM in particular, in the backdrop of the Panamagate, DawnLeaks, Nawaz’s meeting with Indian business tycoon Sajjan Jindal and the issue of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav.



The PTI campaign did not yield any instant results as neither did the PM resign nor was there any serious damage to the Sharif family in political terms. However, the party was successful in mobilising its voters in different cities.

As part of the campaign, the party’s information wing also released an Urdu version of the Panamagate judgment for better understanding of the general public.

All this while, Imran held meetings with foreign envoys of Canada, Spain, and European Union at his residence in Bani Gala. He also focused on Karachi and spent two days there while addressing different groups including the Karachi Tajir Ittehad, the Karachi Labour Convention, the Karachi Traders Association and notables from the Memon community.

PPP cofounder Ghulam Mustafa Khar and Murtaza Satti, a senior PPP leader and former MNA from Potohar were prominent among half a dozen dissidents of different parties who joined the PTI during this time.

Talking to The Express Tribune, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the purpose of the mass contact drive was to sensitise the general public and to bring different segments of society and political parties round to the party policy on the Panamagate probe.



“The PTI started this first. Following our campaign, today other mainstream political parties, including the PPP and the JI besides prominent bar associations, are demanding with one voice fair and free investigations into Panamagate scandal and the PM’s resignation,” Qureshi said.