The ‘massive’ Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) gathering at the Bagh-e-Quaid on Sunday was no cheap affair by any means and it cost the Imran Khan-led party an astounding amount of more than Rs 30 million to pull in the crowds, Pakistan Today has learnt.
“Over Rs 30 million were spent on the public meeting, including the campaign through short message service, telephone calls, hoardings, banners, stickers and flags, decorations and other arrangements at the venue, as well as the free-of-charge transport from every part of the city for the participants,” well-placed sources told Pakistan Today.
They said that the PTI chairman, during his two-day stay before the public meeting, had collected at least Rs 30.1 million in donations. “An industrialist, Faisal Vawda, had donated Rs 10 million.”
A party insider told Pakistan Today that only decorations and the sound system (brought from Lahore) for the public meeting cost Rs 3.1 million.
Despite the lavish spending on arrangements, there was no drinking water available for the people at the venue. The ground eventually became so crowded that it became difficult for the people to even breathe properly and announcements had to be made for the public to back away from the stage and make space for each other. Two volunteers busy in controlling the participants also fell unconscious.
Amidst the tunes of Urdu, Pashto, Sindh and Punjabi songs, the public, especially youngsters, seemed very enthusiastic in attending the public meeting and almost every participant was holding the PTI flag.
For the first time, slogans calling for prime minister’s slot for Khan were raised at the Karachi gathering.
Similar to the Lahore jalsa, most of the youngsters and families coming to the PTI meeting had come out from their homes for the first time to attend any political gathering.
The point to be noted was that the majority of people belonged to the Hazara, Pakhtun and Punjabi ethnicities and participants of Sindhi, Baloch and Urdu-speaking community were only a handful.
The gathering was officially kicked off by renowned singer Abrarul Haq’s recitation of a naat, while the first speech was delivered by Samuel Sharaf, as a goodwill gesture towards the Christian community on the occasion of Christmas.
Political observers attached its importance to the PTI’s efforts of conveying itself as a liberal organisation internationally.
At 4:38 pm, Khan came to the stage and without any gesture to his supporters, went on to sit on his chair, unlike political leaders who usually wave hands to the crowds. After some time and probably someone’s advice, the PTI chairman stood up and waved to the public for a while.
The speech from the PTI chairman, for whom thousands of people had gathered, was particularly disappointing, as he could not make any disclosure or any unusual announcement. The speech of veteran politician Javed Hashmi, who joined the PTI recently, was however more encouraging for the public.
PTI Chairman Khan had claimed that the public meeting in Karachi will be larger than the one held in Lahore on October 30, and the party was indeed able to attract a large number of people at its ‘historical’ public meeting in the sense of participation only, as no major personality joined the party.
The gathering may have been larger than Lahore, but Khan failed to fulfil his promise about an important disclosure on the day of the public meeting – the announcement of some significant people from Sindh joining the PTI.
Despite late night overtures of PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, not a single influential personality agreed to join the party. Even a follower of Qureshi, Altaf Hussain Unnar, a former Sindh minister, refused to announce his joining the PTI.
Many journalists were observed recalling the days when only some months ago, it was impossible for PTI to gather 5,000 people in the city, Khan was not even allowed to enter Karachi, and whenever he came to the city, then PTI Sindh President Zubair Khan could only gather a maximum of 100 party workers to welcome him at the airport.
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