RAWALPINDI: The inter-tehsil competitions of Punjab Sports Festival, inaugurated on Wednesday in Rawalpindi, attracted the criticism of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) leaders in the city who termed the activity a wastage of time and an attempt to engage unemployed youth in fruitless activities.

The sports festival is being held across the province and was inaugurated in Rawalpindi by Pakistan Muslim League-N legislator Malik Ibrar and other leaders. The event will continue till February 6 and aims at engaging the youth in healthy activities.

On the other hand, PTI local leaders argue that the move is merely political as sports activities were already held in schools and colleges.

They added that millions of rupees were being wasted on the ‘publicity campaign’.

“Why has the government not used the money on generating electricity which is a huge challenge? Why are jobs not being provided to the youth instead of engaging them in sports which is secondary?” said Tariq Kiani, the central leader of PTI and former nazim Rawalpindi.Mr Kiani said the administration had been tasked with facilitating sports festival on the provincial level but the Punjab government should have contacted educational institutions instead.

Sadaqat Abbasi, President PTI Punjab (North) told Dawn that the Punjab government was resorting to populist measures in order to divert public attention from the burning issues faced by people.

“The sports festival cannot be termed a healthy activity as it is more of a political stunt than promotion of sports.

“All unemployed people have been requested to participate in the festival, which is a drama,” Rana Sohail, another PTI leader, said. The PTI leaders argued that all PML-N leaders had been assigned the task of promoting the festival.

If the activity was genuine, the provincial government would have given the job to sports departments instead, they said.

On the other hand, parliamentary secretary for sports and PML-N leader Chaudhry Sarfraz Afzal defended the sports festival terming it a healthy adventure.

“There is nothing wrong with the festival. We will hold the sports festivals in all disciplines across the province with zeal and with the support of the government. Other provinces should also hold similar events,” Mr Afzal told Dawn.

He said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was giving special attention to promotion of sports for which budget had been allocated in order to facilitate the youth, adding that special prizes would be given to the winners.