ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday held, what is being claimed as, a ‘historic’ gathering of a million people at Islamabad’s Parade Ground as the joint opposition geared up to oust the premier from office through the no-confidence motion.
After gathering, the videos and photos of the rally has sparked a debate on social media that how many people really attended PTI’s Islamabad jalsa?
The stage secretary claimed that over two million people had gathered at the event.
Islamabad police said around 60,000 to 70,000 people were present at the venue and data collected by the Intelligence Bureau claimed that only 26,000 people attended the rally.
Anchor-person Garidah Farooqi said in a tweet that 30,000 to 40,000 people and not more were present at the Parade Ground.
Journalist Talat Hussain also shared a number. “Final intel count. 40,000 plus including those on the road outside the main gate,” he said.
Journalist Saqib Tanveer said, “About 100,000 people can come to the parade ground. And the PTI has even kept the chairs at a distance. According to the Map Checking Service, even if the ground is full, only 112,000 people can enter the ground. 1.5 to 2 million claims are being made from the stage,” he said in a tweet.
PTI official pages are claiming that from cell phone data traffic analysis revealed the turnover of 0.6 to 0.8 million people in Islamabad at the time of jalsa however social media users are raising questions about this fact.
Twitter user Dawar Butt challenged the statistics of PTI’s claim.
He said, “NHMP said that 650,000 vehicles were using Highways & Motorways, every day, in 2018. The number would probably be 800,000 now. A chunk of these vehicles (such as buses) have high occupancy (20-40 pax). Estimates also say 40-50% is on N-5. That’s ~400k vehicles on Motorways. Let’s take the lowest estimates; after a week-long break, 75k vehicles enter ICT from M1, M2, and 50k through N5. On M1&M2 ~60% are cars, with 2-4 pax, 10% are buses with 30-40 pax. On N5 ~45% are cars, 10% Rickshaws, 8% buses.”
“On any regular day, the number comes out to be 500-550k people entering the capital, passengers + drivers, when you account for all Vehicles. A Sunday would be higher because people were given a 9-day holiday for OIC, Republic day, Jalsa security,” he added.
“This includes Buses, cars, mini-buses, rickshaws, bikes, trucks, pick-ups, etc. Categories are based on studies done by the Govt’s NTRC. So, if 0.6 million figure is even true, my own estimate is that you had a max 50k excess entering the ICT,” he said.
