LAHORE: Even though the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) staged a major rally in the Mochi Gate area on Monday , it failed to attract a large number of women supporters especially from the city, Pakistan Today observed.
The PPP held a public gathering to express its support to the Kashmiris’ struggle against Indian state brutality, and PPP supporters poured into the provincial capital from all over central Punjab and make the rally one of the largest turn-outs in Lahore, however, not many women supporters were present in the crowd.
While women from Gujrat, Kharian, Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Okara, Sahiwal, Mandi Bahuddin, Dinga, Lala Musa and other areas of central Punjab participated, the total number of female supporters was still not more than 300.
Shamim Chaudhry, a women supporter from Kharian said that she along with 20 other women came to attend the rally. When asked the reason, she said, “I came here to express solidarity with the people of the India-held Kashmir, and to support my party’s leadership.”
Another woman participant of the rally from Lala Musa, Salma Akhtar said that she was attending the rally on the party leadership’s call to condemn India’s state terrorism in Kashmir.
“The PPP is observing this day to pay tribute to the Kashmiris who have struggled for the last 70 years. Their sacrifices will never go in vain. Pakistanis are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their Kashmiri brothers,” said PPP leader Samina Khalid Ghurki.
“Our female workers from all union councils of the city are also present at the rally,” said a top PPP leader from Lahore.
The Mochi Gate rally that came following the flop power show at the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) led grand opposition protest on the Mall Road earlier, was a rather impressive show by the PPP and Asif Ali Zardari in Lahore.
PPP leaders claimed that more than 30,000 workers showed up at the public meeting. However, independent sources said that the number of people in the rallies was not more than 15,000 and the Mochi Gate Ground has a capacity of only 10,000 people.
According to the sources, the PPP arranged 5,000 chairs for the crowd. However, a top PPP leader said that 20,000 chairs had been set. The ground was full of party flags and banners along with those to express solidarity with the oppressed people of the Indian-occupied Kashmir. Party anthems were also played during the rally.
A large number of Christian PPP activists led by its minorities leader Napolean Qayyum also participated in the rally.
Qayyum told Pakistan Today that the PPP was the only party that was empathetic of the minorities’ needs and his community would vote for the party in the upcoming general elections.
PPP leaders including Asif Ali Zardari, Aitzaz Ahsan, former premiers Yousaf Raza Gillani and Raja Pervez Ashraf, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Shaukat Basra, Samina Khalid Ghurki, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah addressed the rally. While claiming that Lahore was no more a vote-bank of the ruling PML-N, the leaders vowed to always support the Kashmiris and the Kashmir cause.
