Angered by the poor turnout for the march designed to dislodge the PML-N government, Imran Khan started yelling at the party leaders no sooner than he reached Gujranwala on Friday and refused to move out of the city if not provided with extra manpower.
He even refused the breakfast. “I don’t need breakfast. I need people. Where are they? Tell me how many vehicles and bikes are there to accompany us from Gujranwala,” the PTI chief asked as he stopped in Gujranwala for the breakfast hosted by one of the party leaders, Ali Ashraf Mughal, at his business place.
Once he decided to resume the journey on the assurance that a huge crowd was out there yearning to see and join him, it turned out to be yet another disappointment as majority of them were from the PML-N who started chanting slogans against him.
Imran only came to know about this when somebody chanted: “Kon bachaai ga Pakistan (who will save Pakistan).” The response was: “Wazir-e-Azam Nawaz Sharif.” As the journey started, a clash erupted between the workers of PTI and PML-N. It was a chilling reminder for Imran Khan who in the past led a rally against power outages from Lahore to Gujranwala. Noticing the presence of a small number of people, he refused to address them in Gujranwala, a stronghold of the PML-N.
Similarly, Imran who was delivering speeches from Lahore onwards decided not to address the people in Gujranwala on Friday. The PTI Gujranwala chapter could contribute only 50 motorcyclists who were given Rs3,200 each for petrol and food for accompanying the march.
The Friday’s clash in the city unnerved the PTI chief as the caravan was greeted by angry crowds at three places: a couple of times in Gujranwala and later when it passed through Gakkhar Mandi. The caravan was moving at a snail pace to gather sufficient number of participants for the march but in vain.
As they reached Gujranwala, Imran was found leading a caravan of 5,430 people riding on 719 vehicles. Pajeros outnumbered buses. Some 70 Pajeros and 41 buses were accompanying him. Only 263 motorcyclists were in the caravan in contrast to Imran’s claim that 100,000 bikers would join him.
The PTI sources, however, claimed that lakhs of people accompanied Imran Khan on his way to Islamabad from Lahore. The government circles claimed that not more that 10,000 people had joined Imran Khan when the Azadi March took off from Lahore.
After failing to gather a large crowd in Gujranwala and the clashes that followed, Imran cancelled the speeches he was scheduled to make on his way to Islamabad. He shifted from the container to a bulletproof Pajero and sped to Islamabad.
Meanwhile, Dr. Tahirul Qadri’s caravan was larger in comparison. According to insiders, Imran had refused to accompany Dr Qadri despite the latter’s insistence. Dr. Qadri rang Imran a day before the march expressing his desire to join him from the Zaman Park (Lahore) but the latter refused.
Insiders say that Imran’s cronies misled him into believing that his march would be reminiscent of the one led by Nawaz Sharif in 2009 for restoring the judges. He was told that there would be a snowball effect as more and more people would join him from every city. The situation, however, turned out to be just the opposite as the caravan kept thinning out.
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Pakistan: I need people not breakfast, Imran tells leaders
Angered by the poor turnout for the march designed to dislodge the PML-N government, Imran Khan started yelling at the party leaders no sooner than he reached Gujranwala on Friday and refused to move out of the city if not provided with extra manpower.
He even refused the breakfast. “I don’t need breakfast. I need people. Where are they? Tell me how many vehicles and bikes are there to accompany us from Gujranwala,” the PTI chief asked as he stopped in Gujranwala for the breakfast hosted by one of the party leaders, Ali Ashraf Mughal, at his business place.
Once he decided to resume the journey on the assurance that a huge crowd was out there yearning to see and join him, it turned out to be yet another disappointment as majority of them were from the PML-N who started chanting slogans against him.
Imran only came to know about this when somebody chanted: “Kon bachaai ga Pakistan (who will save Pakistan).” The response was: “Wazir-e-Azam Nawaz Sharif.” As the journey started, a clash erupted between the workers of PTI and PML-N. It was a chilling reminder for Imran Khan who in the past led a rally against power outages from Lahore to Gujranwala. Noticing the presence of a small number of people, he refused to address them in Gujranwala, a stronghold of the PML-N.
Similarly, Imran who was delivering speeches from Lahore onwards decided not to address the people in Gujranwala on Friday. The PTI Gujranwala chapter could contribute only 50 motorcyclists who were given Rs3,200 each for petrol and food for accompanying the march.
The Friday’s clash in the city unnerved the PTI chief as the caravan was greeted by angry crowds at three places: a couple of times in Gujranwala and later when it passed through Gakkhar Mandi. The caravan was moving at a snail pace to gather sufficient number of participants for the march but in vain.
As they reached Gujranwala, Imran was found leading a caravan of 5,430 people riding on 719 vehicles. Pajeros outnumbered buses. Some 70 Pajeros and 41 buses were accompanying him. Only 263 motorcyclists were in the caravan in contrast to Imran’s claim that 100,000 bikers would join him.
The PTI sources, however, claimed that lakhs of people accompanied Imran Khan on his way to Islamabad from Lahore. The government circles claimed that not more that 10,000 people had joined Imran Khan when the Azadi March took off from Lahore.
After failing to gather a large crowd in Gujranwala and the clashes that followed, Imran cancelled the speeches he was scheduled to make on his way to Islamabad. He shifted from the container to a bulletproof Pajero and sped to Islamabad.
Meanwhile, Dr. Tahirul Qadri’s caravan was larger in comparison. According to insiders, Imran had refused to accompany Dr Qadri despite the latter’s insistence. Dr. Qadri rang Imran a day before the march expressing his desire to join him from the Zaman Park (Lahore) but the latter refused.
Insiders say that Imran’s cronies misled him into believing that his march would be reminiscent of the one led by Nawaz Sharif in 2009 for restoring the judges. He was told that there would be a snowball effect as more and more people would join him from every city. The situation, however, turned out to be just the opposite as the caravan kept thinning out.
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