PESHAWAR: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders on Friday strongly criticised Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan for what they said hatching conspiracy against the federal government and advised him to wind up his sit-in protest otherwise they would force the PTI-led government to pack up by launching ‘go Imran go’ campaign in the province.

The PML-N leaders were speaking at the party workers convention at Eidgah Ground here. Prominent among the speakers were Amir Muqam, provincial president Pir Sabir Shah, MPA Arbab Akbar Hayat and provincial general secretary Rehmat Salam Khattak.

A large number of workers from various districts of the province participated in the convention, which was marred by unruliness as several workers took up chairs and started beating each others, resulting in injuries to some of them.

Besides, the leaders and workers have to face serious embarrassment when Sabir Shah mistakenly shouted ‘go Nawaz go’ slogans, which forced the workers to start whistling, shouting and hooting at their provincial president.

Embarrassment as Sabir Shah mistakenly shouts ‘go Nawaz go’ slogans at party convention

However, the PML-N leaders vent their anger at the politics of sit-ins adopted by PTI. Referring to Mr Khan’s speech regarding umpire’s intervention, Mr Muqam said that the time had passed when ‘umpires’ used to raise fingers and now the finger would not rise. He said that Mr Khan should now stop dreaming of becoming prime minister and instead focus on serving the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who had voted his party into power.

He said that the PTI leadership had failed to run the affairs of various departments and it seemed as if there was no government in the province. “Can Imran give a single example of free education, free medical treatment, control on prices of daily-use commodities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he asked and said that lawlessness and uncertainty had made lives of the people miserable.

Mr Muqam said that Mr Khan had lost moral ground due to his campaign against an elected prime minister and now the people had come to understand his designs. “Imran’s own party people are not ready to follow his directions and they stand divided over the issue of resignations,” he said.

Sabir Shah claimed that it was only his party that had the capacity to run the country’s affairs and whenever it came into power the conspirators started plotting against it. He recalled the mega projects initiated by PML-N governments in 1993 and 1999, saying that the country was about to become Asian tiger that conspirators deprived the nation of the uplift plans. He said that the federal government wanted to have cordial relations with all neighboring countries, especially with China and Central Asian states, to boos the country’s economy, overcome poverty and energy crisis, but some people were against the development plans.

Blaming Mr Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Tahirul Qadri for weakening the country’s economy, he said that the dollar rose up due to the ‘Azadi and Inqilab marches’ and the country suffered billions of rupees losses.

Akbar Hayat said that Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and his cabinet members had failed to materialise their commitment, and the problems being faced by people were increasing day by day.

Meanwhile, unruliness marred the basic purpose of the workers convention. The situation went out of control when several workers took up chairs and started beating each others, resulting in injuries to some of them.

Despite hectic efforts of the leaders, including Mr Muqam and Mr Khattak, the PML-N activists continued beating and abusing each others, paying no attention to their leaders.

Many of the workers gathered near the stage and created hurdles to media coverage, which prompted the journalists to boycott the event. However, PML-N provincial secretary information Nasir Khan Musazai managed to bring them back.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2014