Will the PTI rally make inroads into ANP and PPP strongholds?
Party leaders expect thousands to swarm the meeting.
KARACHI:
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is expecting hundreds of thousands to converge at the ground opposite Mazaar-e-Quaid today for their rally. Bolstered by the additions of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, Javed Hashmi, and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and former foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and with an extensive advertising campaign, PTI looks set to have their first major showing in the city.
Qureshi told The Express Tribune that people will be travelling from all over Sindh to attend the meeting. According to PTI’s secretary general for Sindh, Dr Hasan Raza, “People have come in from Sindh and Punjab, as well as Peshawar and Kohat. There are 200 vehicles with just the youth leaving from Lahore and 200 more vehicles full of supporters from Jacobabad. Even if you estimate 50 vehicles per district in Sindh, there will be 5,000 to 10,000 people attending the rally.”
While the former Sindh chief minister, Arbab Ghulam Rahim, PPP MNA Nabeel Gabol and recently released Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi leader, Afaq Ahmed, have been quoted as contenders for the PTI’s growing list of new members, by Friday evening there appeared to be no signs that anyone was jumping ship.
PTI chief Imran Khan denied on Saturday that he was approaching any Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) members to join the party and asked the reporters not to instigate a fight between the two. The supporters of MQM and PTI appear to be pressing both the parties to find common ground to work with each other, and it is expected that MQM supporters will be attending the December 25 event. On the other hand, scores of people belonging to Karachi’s Pakhtun community are likely to join PTI in its rally today.
PTI flags and Imran Khan’s posters covered the houses and vehicles in Pakhtun majority areas of the city, including Sohrab Goth, Keamari, Sultanabad, Manghopir, Abul Hassan Isphani Road, Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Banaras. The political leaders and social figures in the Pakhtun areas were of the view that PTI would affect the vote bank of Awami National Party (ANP) and PPP as well.
PTI leaders from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa leaders, who are in Karachi for the rally, are holding public meetings and persuading their followers to join PTI.
PTI Sindh leader, Suhan Ali Sahil, said that a large number of Pakhtuns who were in the ANP and PPP will join their party in the rally. “Shah Pervez, an old activist of ANP Sindh chapter, and a former member of the ANP central executive committee, will announce his joining at the rally with his group,” he said.
Besides Shah Pervez, the family of the late Roedad Khan, the former member of Pakhtun Action Committee, and political and social figures in Sohrab Goth already joined the PTI. The former activists of Pakhtun Students Federation, including, Saifur Rehman Mehsud and Hameed Ullah Barki, from Sohrab Goth too have joined PTI.
When Shah Pervez was contacted, he told The Express Tribune that they have no other option than to join PTI. “The whole nation is crying for a change. People are sick of the old faces,” said Pervez. “They want a new leadership to change their conditions. We need peace in the city and only PTI can ensure this.” Pervez was also an associate of Ajmal Khattak in NAP and had also formed Pakhtun Ittehad Party in the city. Khwaja Muhammad Khan Hoti, the former central vice president of the ANP and a former federal minister, told The Express Tribune that he was in contact with ANP and PPP men and they will join PTI after meeting with Imran Khan.
Accusing ANP of corruption, he said “The ANP has just given the name of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and nothing more to the Pakhtoons.” He said Imran Khan was the first man who raised his voice against the drone attacks which are the main cause of terrorism in the province.
Meanwhile, ANP leader Bashir Jan did not agree that PTI would affect the vote bank of his party in Karachi. “I don’t think that PTI will take on our vote bank,” he said. “ANP won two seats from Frontier Colony, Pathan Colony and Landhi and there is no influence of PTI in these areas.” The party expected to secure more seats in the upcoming elections, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2011.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is expecting hundreds of thousands to converge at the ground opposite Mazaar-e-Quaid today for their rally. Bolstered by the additions of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, Javed Hashmi, and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and former foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and with an extensive advertising campaign, PTI looks set to have their first major showing in the city.
Qureshi told The Express Tribune that people will be travelling from all over Sindh to attend the meeting. According to PTI’s secretary general for Sindh, Dr Hasan Raza, “People have come in from Sindh and Punjab, as well as Peshawar and Kohat. There are 200 vehicles with just the youth leaving from Lahore and 200 more vehicles full of supporters from Jacobabad. Even if you estimate 50 vehicles per district in Sindh, there will be 5,000 to 10,000 people attending the rally.”
While the former Sindh chief minister, Arbab Ghulam Rahim, PPP MNA Nabeel Gabol and recently released Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi leader, Afaq Ahmed, have been quoted as contenders for the PTI’s growing list of new members, by Friday evening there appeared to be no signs that anyone was jumping ship.
PTI chief Imran Khan denied on Saturday that he was approaching any Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) members to join the party and asked the reporters not to instigate a fight between the two. The supporters of MQM and PTI appear to be pressing both the parties to find common ground to work with each other, and it is expected that MQM supporters will be attending the December 25 event. On the other hand, scores of people belonging to Karachi’s Pakhtun community are likely to join PTI in its rally today.
PTI flags and Imran Khan’s posters covered the houses and vehicles in Pakhtun majority areas of the city, including Sohrab Goth, Keamari, Sultanabad, Manghopir, Abul Hassan Isphani Road, Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Banaras. The political leaders and social figures in the Pakhtun areas were of the view that PTI would affect the vote bank of Awami National Party (ANP) and PPP as well.
PTI leaders from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa leaders, who are in Karachi for the rally, are holding public meetings and persuading their followers to join PTI.
PTI Sindh leader, Suhan Ali Sahil, said that a large number of Pakhtuns who were in the ANP and PPP will join their party in the rally. “Shah Pervez, an old activist of ANP Sindh chapter, and a former member of the ANP central executive committee, will announce his joining at the rally with his group,” he said.
Besides Shah Pervez, the family of the late Roedad Khan, the former member of Pakhtun Action Committee, and political and social figures in Sohrab Goth already joined the PTI. The former activists of Pakhtun Students Federation, including, Saifur Rehman Mehsud and Hameed Ullah Barki, from Sohrab Goth too have joined PTI.
When Shah Pervez was contacted, he told The Express Tribune that they have no other option than to join PTI. “The whole nation is crying for a change. People are sick of the old faces,” said Pervez. “They want a new leadership to change their conditions. We need peace in the city and only PTI can ensure this.” Pervez was also an associate of Ajmal Khattak in NAP and had also formed Pakhtun Ittehad Party in the city. Khwaja Muhammad Khan Hoti, the former central vice president of the ANP and a former federal minister, told The Express Tribune that he was in contact with ANP and PPP men and they will join PTI after meeting with Imran Khan.
Accusing ANP of corruption, he said “The ANP has just given the name of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and nothing more to the Pakhtoons.” He said Imran Khan was the first man who raised his voice against the drone attacks which are the main cause of terrorism in the province.
Meanwhile, ANP leader Bashir Jan did not agree that PTI would affect the vote bank of his party in Karachi. “I don’t think that PTI will take on our vote bank,” he said. “ANP won two seats from Frontier Colony, Pathan Colony and Landhi and there is no influence of PTI in these areas.” The party expected to secure more seats in the upcoming elections, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2011.