New Delhi: Subsided gas and free electricity are not enough to woo voters in Pakistan. A free motorcycle is the latest incentive that Pakistani politicians are offering to sweeten the pot. To ensure a robust welcome for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is expected to return to the country on 21 October, his party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, is offering to give away brand new Honda 125 motorcycles.
A party member reportedly promised brand new bikes to all those who showed up to welcome the self-exiled former PM with a “large number” of people. While the exact time and place of this event cannot be ascertained, a video of it has now gone viral.
Nawaz’s return to Pakistan later this month is being touted as a knight-in-shining armour rescue mission to save the country from the economic crisis it is floundering in.
“This is a big announcement. I hope my team will win. You are all being informed that whoever brings more people to welcome Nawaz Sharif on 21 October will get a Honda bike”, said the not-so-well-known party worker at a gathering.
Politicians, journalists react
Political commentators, journalists and other parties were quick to take potshots at the PML-N.
G News Network (GNN)’s Tansir Zaidi wryly noted that the presentation of political power has reached narrow lanes from open grounds. “Earlier, people would be lured out of their homes with the prospect of Biryani. Now, they are being forced out with bikes.”
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesperson Muhammad Shoaib Shaheen shared the viral video on X (formerly Twitter), suggesting that the PML-N should leave politics and return to “their old profession [sugar business]” if they have resorted to distributing bikes to boost attendance in rallies.
Nawaz is coming back to lead his party for the 2024 January elections. Pakistan’s supreme court removed him as prime minister over corruption allegations in 2017, and he was convicted, jailed and fined the following year. He stayed back in London after being allowed to get medical treatment there in 2019.
“You cannot intimidate people or force them to come out. You can also not offer to give them bikes, etc. You can only bring people out through your organisational skills in rallies”, said a political analyst on ARY News.