Why August 21 was PTI's Super Sunday?

August 21, Sunday, the day which ended with registration of “terrorism” case against Imran Khan can be termed “PTI’s Super Sunday” and rightly so, for the day’s events gave it an electoral victory, a popularity check and also checked the pulse of its huge number of supporters, eventually predicting what holds for the party in the future.

The day was already important one as PTI had two tests, one on electoral front, the NA-245 by-election, and the other one on the public front, as the party had a rally scheduled in Rawalpindi with television channels bound by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) not to telecast Imran Khan’s speeches live.

The third test was the one PTI wasn’t prepared for or you can say that the party hadn’t foreseen but the outcome was unprecedented and something that the country hadn’t foreseen.

This is how PTI’s Super Sunday unfolded

The NA-245 by-election

The biggest electoral battle since Imran Khan was ousted from power earlier this year in April and then PTI’s parliamentary party decided not to sit in a National Assembly “full of crooks”.

PTI’s Mahmood Moulvi was contesting against 16 candidates from different political parties with many parties in the ruling coalition in the center supporting the MQM-P candidate Moeed Anwar.

But despite all the odds and the fear that he may lose keeping in view the support extended to the MQM-P candidate by the PDM-coalition, PTI won the election with a huge margin, almost swept it as according to the final unofficial count, none of the candidates contesting against Moulvi even came close to him.

پی ٹی آئی کے نامزد امیدوار @MoulviMahmood کا PIB کالونی کے پولنگ کیمپ کا دورہ۔

ووٹ عوام کی سب سے بڑی طاقت ہے، اور ووٹ سے ہی آپ اپنے حالات بدل سکتے ہیں، ابھی بھی طاقت آپکے ہاتھ میں ہے باہر نکلیں اور بلے پہ ٹھپہ لگائیں۔#خوددار_خودمختار_کراچی #بلے_پہ_مہر pic.twitter.com/exa1luYYf7

— PTI Karachi Official (@PTI_KHI) August 21, 2022

Mahmood Moulvi secured 29,475 votes – more than the total votes cast in favour of all other candidates combined. MQM-P’s Moeed Anwar, who eventually became the runner up in the contest, only secured 13,193 votes, on the third place was Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) candidate Muhammad Ahmad Raza who secured 9,836 while former MQM leader  Dr Farooq Sattar-who contested the election as an independent candidate- collected just 3,479 votes.

It was a clear win for the PTI, an important one on an important day, as the victory proved that all the past allegations of PTI winning Karachi seats in 2018 general elections with “rigging” were all proved false.

The Rawalpindi Jalsa

PTI’s Rawalpindi rally in Liaquat Bagh was another big event of the day for the party, and many were expecting that the ban on live coverage of Khan’s speech might hurt the viewership or dampen the spirits of those attending the rally.

But as the rally began, not only a huge number of PTI supporters attended it and millions watched it on social media (where the event along with Imran Khan’s speech could go live).

As the mainstream media, the news channels, ran the recorded version of the speech, they also received similar response and each and every word that Imran Khan spoke was analysed by journalists and panelists sitting on talk shows.

Imran Khan remained the talk of the town despite a ban on his live speeches.

This proved that media didn’t give the PTI chief any preferential coverage in the past, Imran Khan remained the biggest newsmaker of the country despite his ouster from power and all journalists know that the norm is that you air the most important stuff first.

If Imran Khan is live, you cannot go and report a smaller event people don’t wish to see or hear about, for it will eventually harm the public interest in both the events and will also effect the ratings in the longer run.

“Imran Khan is our red line”

The third and the most significant development of the day came as a surprise for everyone, including journalists like me, who had seen nothing of the sort before.

As soon as the rally ended, a First Information Report (FIR) began circulating on social media. Yes, there was a “terrorism” case registered against PTI chief Imran Khan over his August 20 speech in Islamabad’s F9 Park.

FIR against @ImranKhanPTI under section 7 of ATC violates SC judgment holding that an offence, howsoever, grave, shocking, brutal, gruesome or horrifying, cannot be termed as terrorism if it is not committed with the design or purpose mentioned in clauses (b) or (c) of S6(1). pic.twitter.com/Lfjc3qN0Lx

— Muhammad Ahmad Pansota (@Pansota1) August 21, 2022

Though the FIR itself read that Imran Khan vowed to take legal action against Additional Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry, IG Islamabad and DIG, the case was registered under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

But it was not the FIR that was the biggest development of the day, it was the reaction of PTI workers and supporters after rumours of Imran Khan’s arrest did rounds on social media.

Yes, a huge number of workers and supporters instead of going to their homes went straight to Imran Khan’s residence in Bani Gala and stayed there till the morning.

It was not only outside Bani Gala that PTI workers were protesting but the party leadership managed to gather protesters in other cities of the country too and yes, there was sit-in outside Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah’s place too.

They had one slogan and that was “Imran Khan is our red line”.

#عمران_خان_ہماری_ریڈ_لائن started trending on social media and is still trending on Twitter.

گھروں میں سوئے ہوئے لوگ رات کے 3 بجے اپنے چھوٹے چھوٹے بچوں کے ہمراہ بنی گالہ پہنچ رہے ہیں pic.twitter.com/prb76WlkQ5

— Abdul Qadir (@AbdulqadirARY) August 21, 2022

لبرٹی چوک لاہور میں صبح دو بجے ہزاورں محب وطن اپنے ملک کی آزادی کا پہرا دے رہے ہیں۔ pic.twitter.com/sbKUNXMQU9

— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) August 21, 2022

عمران خان کے جانثار فیصل آباد سمندری روڈ dtype pull پر ابھی تک دھرنا جاری رکھے ہوئے ہے pic.twitter.com/2ZgPO3vVb1

— Farrukh Habib (@FarrukhHabibISF) August 21, 2022

#عمران_خان_ہماری_ریڈ_لائن
Live update at 2:50 AM pic.twitter.com/BrG5iTfhdX

— Faisal Javed Khan (@FaisalJavedKhan) August 21, 2022

صرف آدھے گھنٹے کی کال پر اہلیان لاہور لبرٹی چوک جمع کارکنان کی بڑی تعدادمیں کپتان کے حق میں نعرے #میں_بھی_عمران_خان_ہوں
pic.twitter.com/U4gdC0h5X9

— PTI (@PTIofficial) August 21, 2022

I pay my gratitude to all the workers who came over to support me @ImranKhanPTI

#عمران_خان_ہماری_ریڈ_لائن pic.twitter.com/dRZ4VSHrLh

— Nouman Gee™ (@NoumanGeePK) August 22, 2022

This was truly unprecedented and a number of supporters are still there outside Imran Khan’s residence to prevent his arrest.

Perhaps, no other political leader has witnessed such support and love from his followers before.

Conclusion

So PTI’s Super Sunday actually predicted what the future holds for PTI, for the NA-245 by-election proved that they are here to stay as an independent force in Pakistani politics and can surprise their opponents in any poll be it in Karachi or in any other city. The by-election can be termed a glimpse into what the next general election might look like.

The Rawalpindi Jalsa proved that Imran Khan is the biggest newsmaker and when he is speaking none can look sideways or ignore him. To report what he says is journalism as people wish to hear him.

The last development, the reaction to the rumours of his arrest, proved that nothing can deter PTI workers and supporters from believing in their leader.

But yes, if the thing stay the same for PTI is yet to be seen.