TAXILA: One of Attock’s most influential political groups, led by former district nazim retired Maj Tahir Sadiq, will announce on Monday that it is allying with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), at a public meeting that will also be addressed by PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

Corner meetings, rallies and processions have been held in every corner of Attock district’s five tehsils to muster public support and motivate the group’s supporters to attend Monday’s meeting and impress the PTI leader with a show of power.

Most of the roads and intersections in the city, especially those leading to the venue of the public meeting, have been decorated with PTI’s and the Major Group’s flags and banners. Large billboards on buildings and roadsides, similarly, have been emblazoned with photographs of Imran Khan and Mr Sadiq, as well as welcoming slogans.

“My team and I put up over 10,000 panaflex banners on various roads leading to the public meeting venue,” activist Mohammad Sohail said, adding that billboards have already been hired for larger posters.

Tahir Khan, who owns a printing press, said he received an order for 5,000 PTI and Major Group flags that was delivered on Nov 1.

Mohsin Shah, another activist, said party leaders have printed more than 2,000 shirts with pictures of Mr Sadiq and Mr Khan on them to be distributed among the youth wing on Monday.

Mr Sadiq, former MNA Zain Ellahi and District Council Chairperson Eman Tahir have been holding corner meetings with party activists seeking their support at Monday’s meeting. They have also met with the chairmen of various municipal committees, union council nazims and other local government representatives.

Mr Sadiq has an active and large voter bank in all five tehsils – Jand, Fatehjang, Attock, Pindi Gheb and Hassanabdal. He has previously contested elections from the PML-Q platform and is a relative of the Chaudhrys of Gujrat.

His group is considered one of the most powerful in the district, having won national and provincial assembly seats in the past.

Mr Sadiq’s daughter, Ms Tahir, is also the first female chairperson of the Attock District Council.

The chairman of the Hassanabdal Municipal Committee also belongs to this group, as do over a hundred union council chairmen and vice chairmen in the district.

The alliance between Mr Sadiq’s group and the PTI would give the PTI’s strong voter bank a boost, and could pose a challenge to the ruling PML-N in the upcoming elections.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2017