PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan’s protest call fell on deaf ears as Peshawar carried out business as usual on Friday with the party selecting to hold a small public meeting outside the local press club.

Instead of going for a show of strength in line with the party chairman’s call for protest, the local PTI leadership chose to postpone the party’s youth convention, which was scheduled to take place at a wedding hall in the provincial capital after Friday prayer.

No reason was cited for the cancelation of the convention. Not even the party leadership to spread the word about the cancellation.

“I think it is going to take place once the Walima party (going on in the wedding hall) comes to an end,” said a young PTI supporter busy chatting over his cellphone.

When asked about the change in the convention’s programme, he said he did not know it.

“They might have changed the programme, I did not pay attention as I was busy texting messages,” said the young PTI supporter with a party color cap.

PTI leaders avoid bringing workers to streets against Islamabad crackdown

The day’s lone protest rally was held outside the Peshawar Press Club where a handful number of PTI workers gathered under the leadership of provincial minister Shah Farman and adviser to the chief minister Mushtaq Ghani.

The local leadership’s failure to pay heed to Imran Khan’s call for protest did not go well with some important party figures.

“They have made it a joke,” said a senior PTI leader, requesting anonymity.

He said the party’s Peshawar leadership cancelled the youth convention without consulting anybody.

“We were informed at the eleventh hour that the convention has been cancelled and instead the party’s provincial leadership will assemble in Swabi to chalk out the future line of action for making the Nov 2 sit-in a success,” said the PTI leader.

Swabi is the hometown of Speaker Asad Qaisar.

“Major dilemma is that the party’s organisational structure does not exist in Peshawar and other parts of KP. There is no coordination between the leadership and workers that is why the party failed to show its strength in Peshawar,” he remarked.

The PTI’s Peshawar leaders avoided to bring the party workers to Peshawar’s streets on Friday to register their protest against Islamabad administration’s crackdown on PTI’s youth convention held in the federal capital on Thursday.

After Imran’s call, PTI MPA Jehandad Khan along with small number of workers came to the press club on Thursday evening, shouted slogans and dispersed.

Instead, the PTI’s top leadership, ministers, members of the national assembly and members of the provincial assembly in the city chose to restrict their activities to indoor meetings on Friday.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak is in UK.

The party’s organisational structure has been dissolved. Minister Shah Farman, who has been appointed coordinator for Peshawar region, is running affairs.

Senior leader of the party Zafar Khattak said leaders were busy in preparation for November 2 show in Islamabad that was why they could not focus on the protest call. He said ‘diehard’ workers had already entered Islamabad. He said around 40,000 workers would proceed from Peshawar to Islamabad on November 2.

Dr Hussain Shaheed Soherwardi, who teaches at the Peshawar University’s International Relations Department, said lackluster response the PTI chief call got today was the result of ‘the haste with which the top leadership decided to hold protest across the country on Friday.’

He said the top leadership took the decision without consulting the lower cadre of the party.

“The leadership decision reflects a reactive approach instead of a proactive approach,” Soherwardi said, adding that workers were mentally prepared for the Nov 2 show.

However, rival politician Mian Iftikhar of the ANP said the PTI’s failure to hold a respectable show in Peshawar and KP reflected the lack of the people’s confidence in Imran Khan’s leadership.

He said the PTI did not meet KP people’s expectations and as a result, the party was fast losing its mass appeal.

“Imran should realise that his government could not deliver and has disappointed people of KP. He (Imran) still has time to review his policy and show maturity,” said Mian Iftikhar, central general secretary of the ANP.

Published in Dawn October 29th, 2016