The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has finalised arrangements for a show of power public gathering in Faisalabad on May 25. They will hold a demonstration against the government’s “ill conceived policies”.
PTI leaders have claimed that the city government has tried its best to hinder the planned gathering. They said several Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supporters have been talking about a possible visit to the area by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif or Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to flex their own political muscle before the PTI demonstration.
They said the prime minister might visit Faisalabadto inaugurate development projects in Sahianwala on May 29.
Banners and panaflexes displaying pictures of PTI chief Imran Khan have been displayed all over the city.
PTI district president Rana Ahmad Raheel Minhas said, “During their election campaigns, PML-N leaders promised to overcome all crises and deliver a paradise… those hollow slogans have been exposed one year into their government.”
The present government has neither managed to control the price hike nor has it brought the crime rate in any part of the country, he said. “At the same time terrorists run amok in the country, out of the administration’s control.”
Minhas said the PTI had launched a series of protests against the present government’s failure to overcome challenges and materialising its promises made to people during the elections.
“The PTI shook the foundations of the rulers’ high castles through its mammoth demonstration at D-Chowk, Islamabad…the campaign will continue in the Punjab starting from Faisalabad,” he said. This gathering will either make the rulers want to mend their ways or leave the power corridors and return home, said Minhas.
City Police Officer Dr Haidar Ashraf said the police will provide full security at the PTI’s public meeting. He said policemen will be deputed at the main gate of the venue with metal detectors. Random checking will also be carried out. The Quick Response Force will be deployed in the surrounding buildings along with bomb disposal squads, he said. More than 3,000 security personnel and other agencies will be posted at the PTI public meeting venue, the CPO said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 18th, 2014.