Azadi march: Chairs, food arrive for marchers

Rally swells as twin cities’ residents come to listen to Imran’s speech.


Our Correspondent August 18, 2014

ISLAMABAD: On the third day of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Azadi march in the federal capital, the marchers took a sigh of relief as the organisers made arrangements to turn their sit-in venue a little congenial for them. 

From the day one, it was noticed that arrangements at Pakistan Awami Tehreek’s (PAT)’s Inqilab rally – camped at a few hundred yards’ distance on a parallel road in Aabpara – were far better than that of the PTI rally. Even the PTI chief Imran Khan had acknowledged this fact.

During his 3:00am speech on Sunday, Imran Khan had announced to make proper arrangements, work on which started early in the morning. The first change at the PTI rally was arrival of chairs. The marcher were later also provided food.

The protesters have braved heavy rain in the last two days and in view of the weather conditions, a shelter – in the shape of large canopies – was installed on one side of the road at the tail of the rally.

The old stage was also moved and parked at roadside to block one side of the road as a new stage – a 40-foot long container having many features, including an air-conditioned apartment-cum-conference room – was brought in.

On Sunday, the PTI gathering also snowballed as people from the twin cities came out to listen to the ‘most important speech of PTI chief Imran Khan’. New faces from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) were also visible in the rally.

The people of the K-P were the first to reach the federal capital under the leadership of the K-P chief minister. But a majority of those who had been present during the first two days have already gone back home.

The number of marchers was high in front of the newly installed stage. However, the number was expected to plummet as several families – including women and children – started to return after nightfall.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18th,2014.

 

COMMENTS (5)

Shaikh Mohommad | 10 years ago | Reply

@Azmat: I think you missed my point. In order for the people to support IK, he should talk about "Missing Persons", Feudal System, getting out of American war on terror. These are the issues affecting common man in Pakistan. Remember the devastating taken place by US Drone Strikes and Army operations. Million refugees are the result of carrying out the diktat from Washington. Just saying and talking about Nawaz Sharif will not have any impact.

Bobb | 10 years ago | Reply

@Azmat: Imran Khan needs a massive therapy to modify his spoilt thought process and expectations. He makes very little sense in his speeches. His strength comes from his hope that all he needs to do is to ignite the atmosphere resulting in voilence and army take over. People like you who believe he is capable of turning Pakistan's fate are idiots. Can not you see what little he has achieved in KPK? Nothing.

The way he is trying to topple NS government will come back to bite him ....he will find no where to hide.

And one does not even want to talk about Qadri who is making us feel sick about him. He can be best described as a constipated monkey who, from time to time, returns to relieve himself on Pak soil with an uncontrolled oral diarrhoea. Like IK his demands make no sense.

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