City debates success of Nawaz welcome

Rally organised by Shehbaz Sharif debated furiously in corner meetings

LAHORE: The PML-N’s rally, led by Mian Shehbaz Sharif, was the hot topic of discussion at the offices of political parties in different constituencies. Diehard supporters of PML-N and PTI were busy trying to establish whether the rally was held more as a show of power rather than to express solidarity with the returning Nawaz Sharif.

The former prime minister is set to spend ten years in jail after being sentenced by an accountability court for accumulating assets beyond his known sources of income.

The supporters of different political parties were debating in “offices” which had been opened on the streets of various constituencies. Some emotional supporters declared this rally by the PML-N as the largest ever conducted by the party.



Not surprisingly, there were others who disagreed, saying it was a small showing from the outgoing ruling party which had dominated the city during the 2013 General Elections. Some claimed the interim government had made complete efforts to confine “PML’N’s tigers” to their homes. However, they said that the efforts had gone in vain. To this, PML-N’s detractors said even with the leaders present, the rally was not so impressive and showed that PML-N had lost some of its vote bank.

There was a heated debate in NA-127 where Muhammad Imran, a PML-N supporter was locked in conversation with Mian Usman who was siding with PTI. The two were attempting to establish whether the rally was the largest or smallest ever.

Imran questioned why PML-N workers were arrested the night before the rally and also pointed to the containers placed on roads to block the rally. He also questioned the blocking of the entrances of Lahore and suspension of mobile services. The PML-N supporters said none of these steps would have been taken if the PML-N could not conjure up a large support base for Nawaz’s return.



Usman replied by saying that there was little doubt that efforts were made to dissuade PML-N from attending the rally, but claimed the former ruling party still only managed to get 5,000 or so people on the road.

There was another debate in NA-131 where Hamza Jutt a PTI supporter, claimed there was a small number of people on the roads which meant that people were not standing with PTI and not PML-N. He said the public will no longer vote for looters who had been proven guilty by the courts.

Muhammad Mubashir of PMLN said his party may not have the same street power as PTI and other religious parties, but was quietly confident that the ballots will tell a different tale. He said that Imran Khan had a huge number of supporters turn up for his rally at Minar-e-Pakistan ahead of the 2013 polls, but his party could not defeat PML-N in Punjab.



He added PML-N voters had not been allowed to come on the roads and were either arrested or restrained from coming out. He added the people would decide the fate of political parties on July 25 (Election Day).

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) worker Muhammad Zubair the party could assemble a sufficient number of people on the road if needed, but PMLN failed on this regard. He stressed that it was important to show a handsome number of voters on the road on an occasion such as Nawaz’s return. However, this debate ended on the note of the losing parties in the election arranging lunch for the winners.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2018.