The PTI seems to be in a Catch-22 situation. The absence of party Chairman Imran Khan is a big blow to any party rally. So what happens when a rally is staged specifically to get him released? The Lahore rally seems to be the answer. The party, to paraphrase the poet T.S. Eliot, ‘will end not with a bang but a whimper/’ Without Imran Khan, the PTI leadership found its rally ended at the time the administration had agreed with it, with the lights switched off, the public address system switched off, and themselves chivvied unceremoniously off the stage. It was bad enough that the rally itself had been flung out of the crowded areas of the city to the Castle Ground near Kahna. That meant that there were few takers for the family outing that previous PTI rallies had become. The party had originally requested that it be allowed to hold the rally at Minar-i-Pakistan. Apart from the happy memories of the rally there that launched the PTI as a force to be reckoned with, it is also convenient to those coming from out of the city from upcountry, specifically the contingents expected from KP, as well as those coming from such nearer conurbations as Gujranwala or Sheikhupura. As a result, the contingent led by KP CM Ali Amin Gandapur reached late, and he only got to address from a darkened stage, was party workers drifted off.
It seems the Punjab government had learnt from the PTI’s Islamabad rally on September 8. The Lahore police did not make the mistake of using tear-gas, and there was the addition of the cutting off of power. The number of people attracted to the rally is in a way immaterial. The party was made to look hapless and incompetent. That is not exactly the image that should be conveyed if the party hopes to get Mr Khan out of jail. While having both senior party officials, chairman and secretary general from the legal profession may have gained Mr Khan some relief from the courts, it does not seem to have demonstrated that much competence in organizing a rally.
Now attention will shift to Karachi, where the PPP is next planning to hold a rally. While it will be difficult to have much of a turnout from KP, with Lahore proving too far for many who made it to Islamabad, the PTI will expect much of the Pashtun community. However, now it is the Sindh CM’ turn to deal with the PTI.
