Prime Minister Imran Khan Monday decided to launch a public relations campaign for his party’s success in the local government elections.
A meeting of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) took place in Islamabad on Monday under the chairmanship of the prime minister, during which the premier issued directives for preparing a schedule of public meetings in connection with the local government elections, says a news report. The meeting also discussed distribution of tickets and considered recommendations for mayors in major cities.
Imran said the organisational structure of the party would be formed, adding that workers were a valuable asset to the PTI and the tickets will be distributed on merit, says a news report.
He said the people of Pakistan had “no better option than the PTI” and that the party will contest the elections with full force. The premier briefed the CEC meeting about his visit to China and issued directives to make details of the success tour public.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had chalked out a plan to launch a countrywide mass contact campaign to mobilize the party at the grassroots level, besides highlighting the government’s major initiatives. “Prime Minister Imran Khan would himself lead the campaign on the desire of PTI parliamentarians,” he said while briefing the media about the decisions taken in the party’s Central Executive Committee meeting. He said PTI was the only party, which had the largest public meetings held across the country to its credit.
Farrukh said the provincial presidents had been asked to arrange party conventions, as it was their responsibility to mobilize the party on the ground. According to the plan, the prime minister, who was also the PTI’s chairman, would address the large public gatherings to be arranged in the breadth and length of the country. On February 9, he said, Imran Khan would be in Faisalabad to launch the ‘health card’, which would provide a family free medical treatment of up to Rs1 million. The people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad, Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan were already availing themselves of free treatment facility, he added.
He said by March 31, the entire population of Punjab would be covered under the PTI government’s flagship ‘health card’ initiative for which an amount of Rs450 billion had been allocated by the provincial government. Divulging other details of the meeting, the minister said all the provincial presidents of PTI presented their reports on the party’s reorganization, and the party chairman directed completion of the process at the district level by February 15.
He said the party notified its Permanent Parliamentary Board to look after matters pertaining to the upcoming local government elections in the provinces. Farrukh said the CEC congratulated the prime minister and his team for their highly successful visit to China.
The joint communique issued after the prime minister’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping reflected the time-tested and strong relations between the two countries, he noted. Lashing out at the critics of visit, he said national interest should be given preference over personal ones. Those, who were propagating against the China Pakistan Economic Corridor need to know that the mega project is in full swing. Major work on the CPEC projects has been completed during the present government.
“You will soon see that the fruits of CPEC will start reaching the common man,” he remarked.
He also commented on reconciliation of two major opposition parties and said they ‘united’ once again to stop the government from retrieving the looted wealth stashed by their corrupt leadership abroad.
“The ongoing accountability process will continue unhindered as the opposition cannot blackmail the government,” he maintained. To a query, he said the opposition’s conspiracies and nefarious designs posed no threat to the government.
“We are not afraid of their resignations, no-confidence motion and long marches,” he added.
He also came hard on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shehbaz Sharif for laundering money through telegraphic transfers.
Farrukh also criticized Pakistan People’s Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for laundering money through fake accounts.
“There’s no comparison of other political parties with the PTI, which was a symbol of federation,” he remarked.