TOBA TEK SINGH: Hundreds of supporters of a former PTI ticket holder for PP-120 (Rajana) Sardar Khawar Sher Gadhi took out a procession on Monday to protest over issuance of ticket for his seat to former Punjab governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar’s brother Chaudhry Ramzan Pervaiz.

The protesters came to the joint election office of Ramzan and NA-112 PTI ticket holder Muhammad Ashfaq at Rajana and ransacked it. Then they reached a marriage hall on Canal Road where a meeting of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf was in progress.

The protesters broke door glasses of the wedding hall and chanted slogans against Chaudhry Ashfaq and Chaudhry Sarwar for allegedly ignoring Sardar Khawar Sher Gadhi and awarding ticket to Chaudhry Ramzan.

Scuffles also broke out between the protesters and participants in the meeting as a result a few PTI activists received injuries. The protesters dispersed when the city police reached there and controlled the situation.

Talking to reporters, a leader of the protesters, Sardar Rab Nawaz Gadhi, said if the [ticket] decision was not withdrawn, PTI activists of the constituency would openly oppose ticket holder Chaudhry Ramzan who had recently returned Pakistan from the UK after surrendering his British citizenship just for contesting election.

On the other hand, Chaudhry Ashfaq claimed that tickets had been awarded by the PTI leadership on merit and deplored the attitude of supporters of Mr Gadhi.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2018