Previous governments, civilian and military, routinely used state machinery for impressive rallies during their respective tenures hence use of official resources for rallies by the incumbent Prime Minister would not be a new phenomenon.
Talking to Business Recorder, retired and serving officials belonging to Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) said that use of government machinery and resources to hold public gatherings by cabinet and other elected representatives has become a tradition in this country. Possibly government resources may still be used to organize rallies especially those to be addressed by Prime Minister Khan and he may not even have been told, they said.
"The process is that the top leadership of the party directs local administration to make arrangements for a rally and they make all the preparations," sources said, adding that usually the government bears huge expenses on such occasions.
Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad former Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that there is no bar on Prime Minister to address public gatherings and in the past also Prime Ministers addressed public rallies during their tenures.
About use of machinery he said that local administration is only responsible for making security arrangements while display of posters, banners of the Prime Minister or party leaders, bringing of supporters to the venue of the gathering and provision of other necessities is the responsibility of the concerned political party.