RAWALPINDI: Local PML-N leaders and election candidates on Wednesday said the 2018 general elections will be controversial after police action against the party’s workers and candidates for conducting a rally last Sunday.

During a press conference at the party’s main election office on 6th Road, leaders of the party said they will go to Lahore on July 13 in the shape of a rally to welcome Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz and said the rally will be the biggest the country has seen.

PML-N Metropolitan President Sardar Naseem, Chaudhry Tanveer, Hanif Abbasi, Malik Abrar, Raja Hanif, Ziaullah Shah and others participated in the press conference.

“Our opponents are given a free hand to run the election campaign, but the PML-N is being forced to stop its campaign. We are not afraid of these tactics and will come back with a majority win on July 25,” said Hanif Abbasi.

He said Sheikh Rashid had claimed that Hanif Abbasi will be disqualified on July 21.

“This is all in an effort to make the elections controversial,” Mr Abbasi said, adding that Sheikh Rashid will be defeated in both constituencies on July 25 and that the Awami Muslim League leader knows this as well.

Chaudhry Tanveer said the police have been arresting PML-N workers for the last five days in order to stop the party from campaigning for the elections.

“The election commission should take notice of the wasting of PML-N candidates’ time in shuffling between courts and jails to get their workers out,” he said.

“Our workers have been taken to Attock jail, with the excuse that there is no space for them in Adiala jail. We have formed a team of legal consultants to provide legal assistance to the workers who were arrested for the rally on Sunday which was part of the election campaign,” he said.

He said PML-N workers and supporters will not be intimidated due to these tactics.

“Space will run out in jails but we will not run short of workers. We have come out to support Nawaz Sharif who is struggling for democracy and the rights of the people in the country,” he said.

“If our leader Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz are flown in a helicopter in order to bring them to Adiala jail, the rally will come back from Lahore to Adiala to support them,” he said.

To a question, Sardar Naseem said the party had not violated any law and reiterated that the workers were picked up by the police only to stop the party from campaigning,

“They wanted the field to be open for our opponents but we will not just leave the field open for them and we will win our seats back,” he said.

Both Hanif Abbasi and Chaudhry Tanveer refused to answer questions about Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and said Nawaz Sharif and Chaudhry Nisar will answer questions about their relationship themselves.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2018