RAWALPINDI: PML-N’s Rawalpindi chapter didn’t have a very pleasant Wednesday evening, as they experienced former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s anger over the rally arrangements in the city.

The former prime minister had been assured of a better reception and a higher turnout by the city’s local leadership during an August 5 meeting at Islamabad’s Punjab House.

A senior party leader told Dawn that the PML-N supremo expressed his displeasure over the arrangements and asked Senator Pervaiz Rashid and Khawaja Saad Rafique to convey this to local leaders.

He said that Mr Sharif was assured by the local leaders in Punjab House, Islamabad, that they would bring a large number of people in the rally as the people were anxious for his (Nawaz Sharif’s) visit. However, he said that the arrangements made by the local leaders did not impress Mr Sharif.

“Before making the speech at Committee Chowk on Wednesday night, the party sent Khawaja Saad Rafique to inspect the stage. After viewing the arrangements, he recommended that the stage not be used; instead he recommended that Senator Chaudhry Tanveer’s proposal be accepted, which was to give the speech from inside the container,” he said.

According to local leaders, Nawaz Sharif made his anger known by not inviting any of the local leaders to the container except Chaudhry Tanveer and his son. He also did not mention the local leadership in his speech. When contacted, former PML-N MNA Malik Shakil Awan denied that Nawaz Sharif was upset with the party’s Rawalpindi chapter.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2017