GUJRAT/LAHORE: The stage is set for the rally of Prime Minister Imran Khan in Hafizabad today (Saturday) with the district administration declaring public holiday.

The local chapters of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in six districts of Gujranwala division, particularly Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin and Gujrat, have been striving to motivate the party workers and public at large to attend the rally.

MPAs Saleem Sarwar Jaura and Tariq Tarar Raika, the district presidents of PTI Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin, respectively, will lead the convoys of workers from their areas. The PTI lawmakers of Hafizabad have been holding corner meetings for the last one week to move the people.

Former MNA Mehdi Hassan Bhatti, the father of PTI MNA from Hafizabad, Shaukat Bhatti, even requested the local journalists the other day to bring at least 100 people per journalist to the rally. The security personnel of the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) were deployed at the Hafizabad Stadium, the venue of the rally, on Friday.

The Gujranwala regional police officer, commissioner, deputy commissioner and DPO inspected the venue.

Soon after arriving in Hafizabad, the PM is scheduled to lay the foundation stone of the University of Hafizabad, followed by his address.

The Hafizabad DC said face masks and hand sanitisers would be available at all the gates of the stadium whereas the people were already being asked to wear face masks to attend the meeting.

Sources in the PTI had earlier said the Hafizabad rally had been planned in response to the public meetings by the opposition parties.

A notification by the DC office said as the prime minister of Pakistan is visiting Hafizabad, on “this occasion of immense honour and pleasure for the district, in exercise of powers conferred upon me ... I declare local holiday on November 7.” When contacted, Hafizabad DC Naveed Shahzad Mirza said the local holiday had been declared to avoid traffic congestion during the closing hours of schools and colleges because the prime minister would be arriving there at the around midday.

“It is presumed that there will be a traffic mess when a large number of vehicles will ply for the PTI public meeting beside routine rush for schools, colleges and offices,” he said.

When asked a letter was circulating on social media apparently from Hafizabad district education officer asking government employees to attend the PTI public meeting, the deputy commissioner denied any such instruction. “It came into my knowledge and I contacted the education officer concerned who, too, disowned it,” he said.

The DC’s local holiday letter also says the holiday order will be applicable only to the offices of local and provincial departments. However, as health alert has already been raised, the DC says the doctors and paramedical staff of the DHQ and THQ shall remain on duty.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2020