PML-F sets the stage for elections with milestone rally

Party’s first ever rally will be held today over 72 acres to accommodate 600,000 people.

HYDERABAD: The rally being held today in Hyderabad by  the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional will not only be a first for the party but is also expected to make history through a turnout of more than half a million people - which would make it one of the biggest public gatherings in Sindh.

The spiritual leader of Hur Jamaat and party chief, Syed Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi - popularly known as Pir Pagara - will speak at the event.

The rally will declare rejection of the new local government system and the Kalabagh Dam and also kick-start the party’s election campaign.

“Pir Sahib Pagara will offer an alternate leadership to the people of Sindh who are being held hostage by a particular political party,” said the PML-F general secretary, Imtiaz Shaikh, referring to the Pakistan Peoples Party’s domination of the Sindhi electorate. “He wants to defend the unity of Sindh.”

The party appears more ambitious about drawing the largest number at the meeting than Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf when it organised its rally in Karachi. Shaikh said that around 200 acres of land has been selected out of which 72 acres - which can accommodate up to 600,000 people - has been allotted for the crowd. The rest has been reserved for parking, stage and private security camps.

No detail sparred

The personnel of Hur force, who perform security duty at the border along with the army, will manage the security at the event. “Around 2,500 to 3,000 people will be on duty in each of the three shifts,” the security in charge told The Express Tribune. The Hur force is deployed at 16 chowkis (posts) along the border from the Tharparkar desert to Ghotki. Each chowki has contributed 300 to 500 members of the force.



In addition, members of the party’s student, labour, women, health and other wings have also volunteered. “More than 1,200 volunteers of the student wing will manage the crowd,” said Waqar Hussain Jat, provincial head of the Muslim Students Federation.

Parking for around 12,000 large vehicles and 2,500 small vehicles has been arranged, according to Ghulam Hyder Rahu.

Political Support

“This is going to be a historic public meeting which will change the political scenario in Sindh,” said MPA Jam Madad Ali, opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly.

Sindhi nationalist parties, National Peoples Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Jamiat-e-Ulma-i-Islam, Jamaat-i-Islami and other political groups have announced their support for the event.

The heads of Sindh Taraqi Pasand, Awami Tehreek, Sindh United Party, and other nationalist parties are also expected to address the meeting while PML-N, JUI-F and JI will send their provincial leadership.

While speaking to the media in Hyderabad, JUI-F’s senator Khalid Mehmood Soomro said that the party has met PML-F leaders, nationalists and other parties in Sindh. “We want to consolidate the anti-PPP vote [in Sindh] and prevent it from splitting.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2012.