Nature’s fury: Despite rain, PTI rally preparations on schedule

Workers take out car-and-bike rally in capital.

ISLAMABAD:

The forces of nature created a temporary setback on Saturday afternoon for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) while its members were in the midst of finalising arrangements at Jinnah Avenue for its protest rally against alleged rigging in the May 2013 elections on Sunday.

PTI workers and supporters in the twin cities, where the political party holds two out of four National Assembly seats, were upbeat, however, despite the change in weather and said they would show up to support its leaders.

While in parts of the Punjab, the PTI leadership alleged its workers were being prevented by the government from reaching the capital to attend the rally, in Islamabad the unlikely opposition to the party’s plans appeared from the heavens above.

Strong, winds building up to a duststorm and rain disrupted the preparations for the gathering on Jinnah Avenue, around 3pm on Saturday. Gusts of wind tore away banners and dislodged the framework for the stage built on top of a container.

Lights put up along Jinnah Avenue median for the protest, which will start on Sunday morning and continue into the night with PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s address scheduled for 5pm, were also knocked off their poles in some places.

Workers took refuge in the cover of the containers being used for the stage and had to move some of the electrical material away from the open. Police officials, deputed for security at the venue, also found shelter from the rain in the nearby Blue Area plazas.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department has forecast scattered duststorm with isolated rain and thunderstorm for Islamabad for the weekend. But PTI workers said they were unaffected by the weather.

“The rain is just a momentary hurdle in the preparations,” Afzal Shaikh, a PTI supporter and resident of F-10 Markaz, said. “The weather will not dampen our spirits.”

On Saturday, PTI workers took out a car-and-bike rally, which started from Centaurus Mall and went around the city, touring different markets and areas of the capital.

PTI Vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi visited the camps set up by the PTI in Rawalpindi on Friday. Islamabad MNA Asad Umar similarly toured PTI camps in his constituency to drum up support for the rally, which falls exactly a year from Election Day 2013.

PTI has 27 directly-contested seats in the National Assembly and seven more on the reserved women and minorities quota altogether, but it claims the number could have been higher if the alleged rigging had not taken place.

Party workers from Rawalpindi are expected to start heading towards the capital in the morning. “Fifty people from my neighbourhood are going to the rally,” said Zaka Ahmed, a student in Rawalpindi’s Sadiqabad neighbourhood, which falls in PTI chief Khan’s constituency. “It will be a repeat of PTI election campaign rallies.”

The Islamabad Police sealed access to the city’s sensitive Red Zone with containers. Rangers and Punjab elite force commandoes will be on alert to guard the zone. Around 3,500 police officials will also be on duty to provide security for the rally. Participants will be ushered in through walkthrough gates at China Chowk and vehicles will not be allowed beyond Kulsoom Chowk.

The Islamabad administration has granted approval for the rally but it has warned it would revoke the go-ahead if there is a breach of law by the rally’s participants.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2014.