PTI rallies with usual frenzy but sans NA-246 constituents

Karachi
As DJ Butt sat atop his container full of woofers and sound systems and frenzied volunteers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf tried their best to make the grand jalsa appear like a well-managed affair, officials of the Election Commission of Pakistan on Sunday evening visited each of the four polling stations identified by PTI chief Imran Khan to be fake.
The ECP officials visited the Sirajud Daula College, the City College, the Zubaida Hajiani Boys and Girls School and the Metropolitan Foundation School in different areas of the constituency and took pictures and made videos of the facilities described by the PTI chief to be non-existent.
The election officers after collecting evidence — taking pictures, making videos and talking to the residents — returned, while PTI activists and supporters, most of them appearing to be from Pakhtun backgrounds with a sprinkling of middle-class families, waited to be reassured that the change was nigh.
Contrary to the PTI leaders’ claims, the audience was visibly thin and comprised mainly two demographics — a large number of Pakhtun young men and dolled up women and girls from surrounding areas — with a smattering of middle-class families.
The organisers claimed to have made arrangements for at least 30,000 people but more than half of the seats were conspicuously bare.
In fact, the caterers had begun to wrap up the seating arrangement even before it was time for Imran Ismail to speak.
A Muttahida Qaumi Movement-to-PTI convert, Kashif Muneeb, was there with two of his friends. He said he had come to support Imran Khan because he wanted to see a change in the way political leaderships were handled.
He said he had voted for the MQM in the last elections but of late he had grown wary of their ways and wanted to see a different party in power.
On the other hand, his friend, Irfan, who hailed from Mansehra and belonged to the same tribe as Azam Swati, believed that the PTI had done good work in his province.
Though his vote was registered in NA-253, he had come to support the party.
A grey-haired Basheer Khan, who was helping media personnel navigate through the venue, was sceptical of the whole affair.
“I live just around the corner. I don’t know what they expect to do here when most of the people attending the gathering aren’t even registered to vote from the constituency,” he said.
However, a couple, who lived near Hassan Square and had come to the event, were confident that the PTI leadership had the potential to being a difference in how things were run in the country. “We also attended the PTI jalsa at the Quaid’s mausoleum and other events,” said Ahmed Ishaq.

Hour of silence
Talking to The News, DJ Butt said on the request of the Ismaili community that had a Jamaatkhana nearby, he would not play music for an hour after Maghrib.
When asked what he had in store for the event, he said he had three new songs to play. One of them had been sent by Usman Banghash from UAE, another was a new take on “Go Nawaz Go” by activists in Hyderabad while another had been made by a local band.

Roads blocked
There were blockades on the non-jalsa areas in the city including Sharea Faisal and University Road as the PTI chief made rounds to the houses of philanthropists and party leaders.
At the venue, a force of 3,000 men, covered head to toe in anti-rioting gear, had been deployed for security led by SP Liaquatabad Tahir Noorani.
However, in areas surrounding Shahrah-e-Pakistan, SSU and SRP personnel had set up a number of pickets and barriers for checking vehicles’ movement.