ISLAMABAD - More than 100 days since office-bearers of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) have been on their toes to mobilize people for the anti-government agitation, the PTI leaders feel tired as they are required once again to pull another crowd in Islamabad on November 30.
The November 30 expedition of PTI against the government in Islamabad has once again triggered the party office-bearers to drum up public support for taking part in the demonstration, an effort that will need lot of money for bringing people from across the country to the protest venue.
Addressing party leaders and workers on Wednesday, Imran once again asked his ‘tigers’ to bring a sea of people to Islamabad for participating in the anti-government rally which, he termed, will bring the 98-day sit-in to a decisive conclusion.
But some party organizers told The Nation that they were exhausted besides spending lot of money on arranging transport and food facilities for protesters arguing that the battle against government had got prolonged against what they had expected.
“The weather is cold and workers are tired. Besides, we are new in politics and money is a problem for us,” a PTI member from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa told this reporter after attending Imran Khan’s address in Islamabad.
He said people needed transportation, food and shelter in Islamabad and those protestors who had undergone bitter experience in the federal capital on August 14 will hardly dare to converge again on the protest venue.
Several key PTI leaders had refused to accompany Khan after the cricketer-turned politician extended his protest to other parts from D chowk, a factor that also annoyed Khan who said he knew true faces of his friends during his anti-government demonstration.
With the government not bowing down to the pressure of PTI that has been staging sit-in since 99 consecutive days, some PTI stalwarts have shown skepticism over the ‘indefinite’ and ‘futile’ anti-government demonstrations.
Party sources said that some senior PTI leaders had stopped accompanying Khan in rallies away from D chowk after showing concerns over the extension of protests to other cities.
Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak, according to informed sources, requested Khan to exempt his cabinet members from attending D Chowk rally as the chief minister needed the ministers in running provincial affairs.
Advisor to Chief Minister on Jails Malik Qasim is one of the few KP cabinet members who had flatly refused to show up at D chowk citing reasons that he was needed at home more than showing up at Islamabad.
PTI has also asked its student wing, Inaf Student Federation (ISF), to mobilize people for its November 30 rally in Islamabad instead of directing district office-bearers. “It is a fact that several leaders have got tired and the issue has been brought into the notice of top leadership,” another leader replied to a question.
However, despite all odds, PTI has asked its workers to utilize all resources to bring maximum people to the venue in order to reach Islamabad in any case.