CHAKWAL, Feb 12: After over a decade of inactivity in Chakwal, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI) is making another attempt at becoming a force to challenge the dominant Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

A visit by party chairman Imran Khan on Sunday, during which he met party leaders and addressed public gatherings, has energised PTI supporters and sparked new ambitions.

Khan's first stop in Chakwal was a gathering organised by Chaudhry Ali Nasir Bhatti, a former union council nazim, who left the PML-N for the PTI two years ago.

In attempting to prove that he deserved the right to contest for the PP 20 seat in the Provincial Assembly, Bhatti arranged a large meeting and then served lunch to over 5,000 participants, at an estimated cost of Rs40,000. In the evening, Khan met with Pir Shaukat Hussain, who hopes to contest the NA 60 seat in the National Assembly.

Khan's visit to Chakwal coincided with the entrance into the PTI of several new members.

One of these is Raja Yassir Sarfaraz, who runs an elite school in Chakwal, where he had organised another crowd for Imran Khan to address.

Although his cousin and uncle are senior leaders of the PPP, Raja Yassir decided instead to make his first foray in politics with the PTI.

In Choa Saidan Shah, former MPA Maha Tareen Raja had arranged yet another crowd for Imran Khan. Mrs Raja joined PTI with her father, Raja Munawar, a politician who began his career in 1971 with the PPP, later served as an adviser to General Ziaul Haq, joined the Islami Jamhoori Itehad and became a member of PML-N and PML-Q before settling into the PTI.“We are very optimistic about the PTI's position in Chakwal,” Maha Tareen Raja said. “It's more popular each day.”

Maha Tareen Raja's husband, Dr. Naeem Tareen, is a relative of PTI stalwart Jahangir Khan Tareen, and sources report it was through this connection that Maha Tareen and her fatherjoined the party. While in Choa Saidan Shah, Imran Khan also visited Malik Zeeshan, PTI's tehsil organiser. In the evening, he visited poet Tabish Kamal, who was later spotted at a photo studio, where he was developing photos of himself with Imran Khan.

Although Imran Khan's visit has sparked new hopes, the PTI has had a difficult history in Chakwal, marked by numerous defections. In 2012, Sardar Ghulam Abbas, one of the area's most influential politicians, left the party fold after less than two years as a member.

Raja Sanaul Haq, who joined the PTI in 2011, jumped ship for the PPP soon after, when his younger brother's father-in-law, Raja Pervez Ashraf, became Prime Minister.

The PTI is also still attempting to mitigate the damage caused by Sardar Faiz Tamman, who served for seven years as an MNA from NA 61.

It was eventually revealed that Tamman had faked his educational credentials, and it remains to be seen whether voters will forgive that deception.