It may be noted that 4,685 internees have been selected from the four districts of the Rawalpindi division who will be placed in different government departments/private organisations on the basis of their academic qualifications. The internees will be paid Rs10,000 each month during the three-month-long programme.

The participants said they were asked to arrive at the venue of the function on the premises of Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University at 11am and be seated by 12 noon. The function was scheduled to be started at 2pm but the chief minister arrived at 5pm.

During this period, the internees remained on their seats without getting water and food. On the other hand, lawmakers and local PML-N workers and leaders were seen enjoying water and other facilities on their seats.

The city government even failed to allocate space for newsmen and cameramen covering the event. The law enforcement agencies, including the police, did not allow Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) vehicles of TV channels to enter the premises. When the angry newsmen decided to boycott the coverage of the chief minister, former PML-N legislator Haji Pervaiz and MPA Shaheryar Riaz persuaded them not to do so.

Talking to Dawn, some of the internees expressed their resentment over the late arrival of the chief minister and said they were kept waiting to get the acceptance letters for about six hours.

Asma Mobeen, from Taxila, said she had come to the function with her brother and it would be very difficult for them to go back in public transport at night.

Ambar Rasheed said she came with her friend to collect the letter and due to late arrival of the chief minister her friend left for her home. She said she would have to go back alone.

Zain Ahmed, an electric engineering degree holder, said the chief minister should be a role model as far as punctuality is concerned. “We received SMS late night asking us to collect the letters at 11am,” he said.

Another internee, Mohammad Tahseen, said: “We are waiting for the chief guest for the last five hours without having food and water as we are not allowed to leave our seats due to security concerns.”

Addressing the gathering, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif announced to distribute laptops among 125,000 students after Muharram 10. “Rawalpindi’s 15,000 students will get new laptops with original software in the second phase,” he said.

He said the provincial government would soon launch air-conditioned public transport across the province. The PML-N government has already spent millions of rupees on the establishment of cardiology and urology institutions and flyovers in the city and more funds would be allocated for its development, he added.

The chief minister said the provincial government was working to promote the culture of merit and make the province corruption free. “I will resign if anybody proved a single penny of corruption against us,” he claimed.