I was present at D-chowk last night. If you stretch the number of attendees to maximum, it won’t cross 18,000 to the most. News agencies are reporting that the attendance was between 15,000 to 16,000. More than numbers, there were few things which were palpable in that public gathering, and if Imran has an iota of acumen, he cannot escape from that vibe. Most of the attendees were there to enjoy the evening. Most of them were there not to protest or to bring in some change or to welcome the start of a real movement. Most of them were there for a good time out. Rich girls with designer sun glasses and branded jeans were being chased by hordes of boys. I myself saw at least dozen of small fights erupting around the girls.
Nobody was focusing on what the speeches were about. Only when Imran came to the dice, there was a vigor, but that was only to welcome their idol, and that’s about it. I didn’t see any sense of conceptual undertaking. I didn’t see any resolve for change. Even the speeches of PTI leaders like Imran, Hashmi, Qureshi were wayward. They failed to convey what exactly they wanted. The biggest flop item of the yesterday’s much-touted gathering was the lack of direction. What Imran announced weakly in that gathering could be said without such a fuss. Imran needs to learn that such calls of rallies can’t be given on daily basis and if he would keep calling people out and then backing off meekly, he will soon be ignored. Imran tasted the flavor of lack of interest yesterday.
Imran’s demand of independent election commission and free and fair election is justified. Who will deny that? But instead on the roads and wasting his party’s energies, he should fight that in courts and in the parliament. Bringing party to the roads is last resort for any opposition and Imran refuses to understand that. Tailpiece: When PTI was singing and dancing on the beat of rock music in D-chowk yesterday, in Peshawar, where they rule, there was a attack on Mosque in which innocent people yet again died. During past 4 days, 4 such attacks have occurred in KPK. No PTI leader even mentioned that in Islamabad yesterday. Nobody from their team went to console with those victims.