LAHORE: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has alleged discrimination by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for not allowing its chairman to use Lahore airport for flying out of the Punjab capital while the PTI chief was allowed to do the same.

“PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was denied to use his plane from Allama Iqbal International Airport to fly to Peshawar in connection with his election campaign there and he had to take the land route for reaching his destination,” PPP spokesperson Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said in a statement here on Friday.

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On the other hand, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan’s plane was allowed to take off from Lahore airport in a clear discriminatory treatment, he alleged.

“It’s a contradiction of the claims of a level-playing field for all political players,” PPP federal council member Munawwar Anjum said criticising the Lahore airport administration for giving a special treatment to the laadla (blue-eyed of the establishment), a reference to Imran Khan.

Terming it a part of pre-poll rigging, Anjum urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take notice of the incident.

He said if the authorities had planned this kind of election, they should announce the winner right now instead of going into the polling process. He warned if the ECP didn’t act, the PPP could refuse to accept results of an election held in a manner in which one party was given a free-hand at the cost of others.

Meanwhile, PPP ticket holders from Lahore met here in the evening and discussed preparations for Bilawal’s July 18 reception in the city.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2018