NAROWAL: A tough competition is expected between the PTI and the PML-N in NA-78, Narowal II.

In the run are PTI’s Abrarul Haq and PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal. Muhammad Arif Khan who contested PP-48 during the 2013 election is supporting the PTI. The party has fielded for PP-49 ex-parliamentary secretary Mrs Riffat Javed Kahloon.

The PTI has started its election campaign with zeal and zest in NA-78 by increasing contacts with the union council chairmen and it succeeded in getting the support of 11 chairmen of the PML-N. The chairmen said the MNA and MPA didn’t solve the problems of their localities, therefore, they had changed their party.

For PML-N Ahsan Iqbal’s cousin former MPA Rana Manan is in the field for PP-48, Bilal Akbar for PP-49 and Narowal city’s ex-MPA Khwaja Mohammad Wasim Butt for PP-50.

Ex-MPA Ramaish Singh Arora and District Council chairman Ahmad Iqbal, Municipal Committee chairman Pir Syed Azharul Hassan alias Shahzada Pir and other leaders are actively taking part in the election campaign for which Ahsan Iqbal is also trying to bring back disgruntled workers.

PTI workers Naeem Khan Kakar and Irfan Butt who couldn’t get provincial assembly tickets, got offended and joined the PML-N. A public meeting was arranged in a mansion of Gumtala village where hundreds of people of surrounding villages came in support of Ahsan Iqbal. The people thanked Mr Iqbal for providing them infrastructural facilities and investing in health and education.

Ahsan Iqbal said: “In the 2013 elections you voted for me and the PML-N formed the government at a time when there was loadshedding for 18 to 20 hours and most mills and factories were closed, with the labourers protesting on the roads. The scourge of terrorism was at its peak as 40 to 50 people were being killed daily. The government established powerhouses in the country during the last five years and added to the national grid record electricity,” he said.

On the security front, he said, the PML-N government had broken the backbone of terrorists by launching operations Zarb-i-Azb and Raddul Fasad with the help of the Pakistan Army and security agencies.

He criticised the PTI, saying “Imran Khan only staged sit-ins and protested during the last five years and ignored KP.”

He said his government, on the other hand, established eight universities in KP.

In the 2013 general election, Ahsan Iqbal defeated Abrarul Haq by a margin of 40,000 votes.

Abrarul Haq also held a meeting at a banquet hall at a village near the city and the PTI workers and supporters garlanded him and threw rose petals on him. It was a festive occasion as the youth of the PTI danced to the beat of drum and chanted slogans. The PTI leader castigated the PML-N leaders and resolved to defeat them this time round.

Published in Dawn, July 07th, 2018