Govt officials say PDM rally only attracted 10,000 to 15,000 attendees

Despite the Opposition's claims about attracting a huge crowd at Minar-e-Pakistan today at the Pakistan Democratic Movement's rally, PTI officials maintain that the gathering turned into a fiasco because of poor attendance.

According to Geo News, Information Minister Shibli Faraz said that the PDM could hardly manage to gather 10,000 to 15,000 people at the venue, adding that the rally was "as cold as the weather."

Before the rally, PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah had said that the government must not stop the rally because "millions of people" would be coming to the venue. 

Adding to Shibli Faraz's comment,  Special Assistant to Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar Firdous Ashiq Awan said that the government neither stopped the Opposition from carrying out the rally nor placed any containers to block the road. 

"Despite all the freedom, the PDM failed to attract enough supporters for their gathering, and ended up setting a five-acre tent in a 150-acre park," she asserted. "There were only about 10,000 chairs at the jalsa venue which shows PDM's ineffectiveness."

Firdous Ashiq Awan added that PDMs rally was more of a  classroom where "MNAs and MPAs had to mark their attendance."

According to the report, Senator Faisal Javed Khan also said that PDM's rally "flopped" because the Opposition leaders failed to garner enough support for their mission.

"Just like their previous meetings, this one too was a flopped show," Senator Faisal Javed said.

Comparing the PDM jalsa to PTI's previous rallies at Minar-e-Pakistan, Faisal Javed said that Prime Minister Imran Khan single-handedly filled the historic venue with supporters when he addressed a jalsa there.

"[They could not gather enough people] even after bringing 11 different parties together," he said. "PTI's jalsas had these many people on the stage alone."