KARACHI: “The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf is driving with a punctured tyre. Since their car also has power steering, they don’t realise they have a flat,” laughed a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) supporter heading towards the big Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) power show at Bagh-i-Jinnah on Sunday.

But more than party following, more than favourite leaders, more than the excitement of the jalsa was the issue of inflation.

“We are not here for Bilawal, we are not here for Maryam, we are here in solidarity with whosoever wants to get rid of the flour thieves, the sugar thieves,” said one of the men marching out of the Karachi Goan Association (KGA) Ground, being utilised as car parking for the big political event, towards the the jalsa ground.

“We are coming from Khairpur to join hands with all those looking to oust ‘the Niazi’,” said an old timer, one of the few people heading in the direction of Bagh-i-Jinnah without any party flag in hand. “I don’t support any particular party as I think all have their ulterior motives. But I want relief from the worst ruler now so I am here today,” he said.

“This country had never seen the price of flour exceed Rs40 per kilo but it is Rs80 per kilo now. I am a poor man, I worked hard all my life to make sure my children didn’t go to bed hungry. But at this old age when I am waiting to meet my maker, I have had to watch my grandchildren going to bed hungry,” he said with a lump forming in his throat.

At Numaish, there was a rush of vendor carts selling ganderi (or skinned sugar cane pieces), roasted corn on the cob and sweet potato, haleem, sherbet and sugar cane and melon juice, ice cream tricycles, men with ice-filled tubs and cooling water bottles, men with trays full of crispy samosa and plastic bags heaped with papadums. There were vendors on foot also selling party colour caps all happy to soon be making some sales, and hence some money.

There were private cars, with people waving party flags from the rear windows. One particular maroon Cultus on Kashmir Road had a stuffed toy tiger fixed on its roof. There were reception camps with a lot of loud music. At the Awami National Party camp there was also an occasional dance to beat the boredom.

There were the diagonally parked police mobiles at road and street corners, the PPP flags on all the poles leading to the jalsa venue, especially on flyovers from where they couldn’t be missed so easily. The poles as well as some walls also boasted of Bilawal and Maryam posters and banners in green, blue, black and a splatter of red and yellow with a few pictures of their buzurgwar (or ancestors), some smiling down from heaven (well, one hopes so) and others putting on their best politician smiles for the camera.

The stern-looking bearded chaps carrying black and white zebra stripe flags, meanwhile, didn’t need any poles or walls for posters. They marched on like soldiers. “We are with Maulana Fazlur Rehman,” said one of them when approached for a comment. None of them wanted to engage in any further conversation.

A group of PPP supporters from Sanghar, Tando Adam was standing in a circle to receive a briefing. When asked how long before the jalsa begins, they shrugged and smiled. “We are all arriving by road so it may take longer than we thought for all of us to gather here,” said Rukhsana Shar, PPP’s Sanghar District president.

Asked if they were expecting any trouble, a taluka activist from Tando Adam, Lubna Sheikh, smiled and shook her head. “We are prone. We represent a party of martyrs,” she said.

“It’s just a matter of Girti hui deewar ko aik dhaka aur do (Giving a final push to a wall that is already about to collapse) now,” added a male member of the group.

A young volunteer, slightly on the plump side, glanced hungrily at an ice cream vendor cycling past him. Someone asked him how long he had been standing on duty and if he had eaten anything. “I’ve been standing here since 10am and no, I have not eaten but it will all be worth it when I see Bilawal Sahib arrive,” he smiled as he went back to his business of turning traffic away from the roads closed. Thankfully, the sky over Karachi remained overcast since early morning.

As if the empty cargo containers, trucks, bowsers and buses blocking all entry spots, even the service roads, to the venue were not enough, the scouts together with police personnel had to wave everyone away before pointing them towards the diversions. Still, no one was frowning at having to turn their vehicles around. “Hopefully, those in power in the federal capital would come out of their ostrich syndrome after seeing so much fanfare for the others,” said one driver before turning on his left blinker to turn that side.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2020