SAHIWAL, Nov 9: Acquisition of a ministry may provide a joy of some moments to supporters, but for motorists, it is not without a menace when they have to wait for the clearance of traffic for some one-and-a-half hour.

Reports said that a sizable number of district and tehsil office-bearers of the PPP assembled at View Hotel Chowk on the GT Road to welcome Malik Ghulam Farid Kathya after he was made the State Minister for Education.

Also the district PPP president, Mr Kathya arrived hometown from Lahore for the first time after getting his new portfolio.

Party workers later took the minister in a big procession from View Hotel to Pakpattan Chowk, Jogi Chowk and Mazdoor Pulli that caused the suspension of traffic on the Multan-Sahiwal Road for about one-and-a-half hours.

Malik Arshad was the only PML-N leader who greeted the PPP minister. Zaki Chaudhry, Shafiq Langha, Ali Imran Jan and Shafqat Javed welcomed the procession at Mazdoor Pulli with display of fireworks and horse dance.

The whole city was decorated with welcome banners and PPP flags. Mr Kathya is a staunch PPP supporter and has been holding the district president slot for the last 25 years.