KARACHI: The successful public meeting organised by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in the city on Sunday suggested that Imran Khan’s slogan of ‘change’ and ‘Naya Pakistan’ is attracting more and more people, mostly young men and women from all walks of life, to his cause.

The participants in the rally were more emotionally charged than they were at his last appearance at an election rally near the Quaid’s mausoleum, a venue a stone’s throw from this one. They had perched themselves on tall streetlight poles, trees and wherever they could find a foothold to see their leader.

The involvement of youths in such large numbers way redolent of the early 1970s when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s Peoples Party was a big attraction.

The venue of the public meeting was in front of the VVIP gate of the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah. It was decorated with party flags and huge portraits of Mr Khan.

PTI workers and supporters started converging at the venue much before the scheduled time. The venue was packed to capacity even before the start of Mr Khan’s speech.

The event turned out to be a festive occasion for PTI workers, who danced to the tune of party songs in front of a truck carrying their leaders. PTI leaders Nadir Akmal Leghari and Najeeb Haroon kept the show alive for almost four hours until Mr Khan’s convoy reached the venue.

Mr Khan reached the stage at around 5.35pm. The crowd gave him a standing ovation. Before taking the seat on the stage, Mr Khan waved to the emotional gathering wearing a broad smile indicating that he was quite satisfied with the response from the people of Karachi.

Children, families, elderly people, disabled persons, etc, pushed one another to get a closer view of their leader Khan when he emerged on the stage.

Women with painted faces and young men sporting caps, headbands and wristbands carrying the colours of their party’s flag flashed victory signs and shouted ‘Go Nawaz go’.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2014