MULTAN, Dec 18: The poorly attended public gathering of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Chief Nawaz Sharif at Qila Kuhna Qasim Bagh on Monday speaks volume of ineffectiveness of local leaders as well as people’s indifference towards electioneering.
Local political analysts expected a large turnout at Mr Sharif’s meeting, as his previous meetings in Multan have been blockbusters. But conflicts among local leaders over polls ticket distribution de-motivated workers who in turn showed no interest in mobilising the public for the meeting.
Babu Nafees Ahmed Ansari, former member of the Punjab Assembly (MPA), said the party did not arrange any meeting for public mobilisation or other arrangements ahead of Mr Sharif’s tour to the city. He said even though he was the district general secretary of the PLM-N, he came to know about the plan two days ahead of the visit.
He said that city and district presidents of the party as well as candidates were responsible for the poor show as they kept the news only with themselves.
Rafiq Rajwana, PML-N provincial senior vice president, however, said that he was satisfied with the number of participants as the meeting had been arranged on a short notice.
He said that tickets were distributed against the wishes of workers and he had informed Mr Sharif about the situation when Mr Sharif visited his home to condole the death of his brother and brother-in-law.
He said that Mr Sharif said decisions regarding candidatures had been made but the people victimized by these decisions should support the PLM-N candidates and the party would compensate them in the future.
Allah Nawaz Durrani, PML-N district president, said he had suggested that the party either organised a public gathering or a welcome procession. But the party held both activities and people who attended the welcome procession did not participate in the public gathering. He said all tickets were distributed on merit.
As party leaders are busy in mudslinging, Rashid Rehman, Human Right Task Force coordinator, sees public indifference in political activities because of a few families’ hegemony on politics.
He said that political parties had become private limited companies and all politicians their shareholders and only shareholder could invest in the business for profits.
