However, an opposition as friendly and mild in conduct as the one played by PML-N chief Shehbaz Sharif is still better than the one with no ‘parent figure’ or leader at all. With the exception of less than important figures, many, including the bigwigs from the Pakistan Peoples Party, have deemed the move to be reflective of more than just the housing scam case junior Sharif has been arrested on the grounds of.
It is yet to be seen if Shehbaz’s release will follow the same pattern as that of Maryam and Nawaz’s. Where the mock parliamentary session conducted outside the Parliament House by the opposition parties is unlikely to deliver any strong message to the government resulting in the release of Shehbaz Sharif let alone the opposition’s renewed sense of vigour and unity, there’s certainly more than what appears on the surface to the way the opposition has gathered this time around. It can still turn the tables on the government in the by-polls scheduled for tomorrow. Nevertheless, as the results of the by-polls will unfold on late Sunday evening a lot will become understandable, most importantly if it was the fear of the PML-N’s strong foothold in constituencies of the by-polls that led to its president’s calculated arrest or the wave of accountability that has washed over many in the past few days.
Conclusively, if nothing, the mock session illustrates an opposition more united and consolidated in approach compared to the one during the general elections of July 25. Further, the sympathy-vote factor too is still present, one can still expect the unexpected to happen all through those 37 seats of the national and provincial legislatures the candidates of these parties will contest for.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 13th, 2018.
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