RAWALPINDI: Just as with its Raiwind march, local leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leaders do not seem too keen on gathering crowds for the party’s plans for laying siege to Islamabad, which is scheduled for November 2.

Senior party leaders say grouping in party’s Rawalpindi chapter is “dangerous” and could cost the party its mega protest.

Instead of launching campaigns for mobilising crowds as per the directives of party chairman Imran Khan, the party’s five MPAs ­­— Mohammad Asif, Malik Taimoor, Arif Abbasi, Ijaz Khan Jazi and Rashid Hafeez — went to attend a session of the Punjab Assembly in Lahore. The memberships of two of these MPAs were suspended for not declaring their assets to the election commission, and they are still in Lahore instead of making arrangements for the protest.

According to a senior party leader, the party is divided into three groups in the garrison city, with a group each led by MPAs, Ghulam Sarwar Khan and Amir Kiani.

He said that after Imran Khan appointed Amir Kiani as president PTI Punjab North, the other two groups started a campaign of sorts against the new office bearers and abandoned the task of gathering crowds for the party’s plans for laying siege to Islamabad.

Some of the party leaders even went on private visits to Australia and Europe and left the job of making arrangements for the protest to the new office bearers.

The senior party leader said the MPAs were waiting to be formally invited by the Punjab North president to join him in the campaign for mobilising workers and supporters for the rally, which they were yet to receive.

He said that the new district office bearers had not yet invited any of the party’s MPAs to any of the functions and events that were held in the garrison city during the last week.

“We did come to Lahore to attend a session of the Punjab Assembly, which is expected to be long and all MPAs had to attend,” said PTI MPA Mohammad Asif.

When asked about the arrangements for the dharna, the MPA said he had started a campaign for mobilising workers, which he had to leave to attend the provincial assembly’s session in Lahore and to submit details of his assets.

Asked to comment on the coordination between the MPAs and the party’s new office bearers, Mr Asif said: “There is no coordination between the MPAs and the district organisation and the district president and general secretary did not ask the MPAs to start mobilising campaigns.”

He added local leaders did not consult with elected MPAs on issues regarding their constituencies and that even though he talked to Amir Kiani from time to time, he got details about the party’s new initiatives in the district via the media.

Talking to Dawn, MPA Arif Abbasi said he, too, was in Lahore for the assembly session, which he said will take more than a week. He said he had launched a campaign in his constituency in order to help the party successfully lay siege to Islamabad. However, he said, the issue of differences within the party was a sensitive one and that he would not like to comment further on it.

He said that the party needed to end the differences between the various groups in the garrison city in order to conduct a successful dharna in Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2016