Lahore’s Nasir Bagh and its surroundings reverberated with the slogans of ‘Go Nawaz Go’ under the banner of Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) protest demonstration against load shedding on Thursday.
PPP jiyalas thronged the event to put pressure on the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) which has a stronghold in Lahore since decades.
The Mall and Nasir Bagh were decorated with the party flags of PPP inscribed with the anti-Sharif slogans and a special box was also put there demanding a ‘special name’ for Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif as he had claimed that people will have a right to change his name if the government of PML-N fails to end the load shedding after coming into the power.
Addressing a large number of PPP workers, National Assembly opposition leader Khurshid Shah said that the government of PML-N has miserably failed to eliminate the load shedding despite the tall claims, as there is an average load shedding of fourteen hours in the rural and urban areas of the country.
“Mian Sahib, you can survive the Panama Leaks or Dawn Leaks but the issue of load shedding cannot save you from the pressure of masses,” he said. He was of the view that Nawaz Sharif hatched a conspiracy against the institutions of Pakistan and the confrontation between the institutions is not a healthy sign for the federation of this country.
In his address, PPP leader and Senator Aitzaz Ahsan came hard on the incumbent rulers of the country over the issues of Panama and Dawn leaks. He was of the view that Sharif brothers made scapegoats in the issue of Dawn leaks instead of naming the real culprit.
“The slogan of Go Nawaz Go is being chanted even in the Sharif family as there is a rift among Hamza Shahbaz and Maryam Nawaz as both of them want to hold the reins of PML-N,” Aitzaz said.
The jiyalas from different parts of Lahore and from the adjacent districts took part in the protest demonstration and they were carrying the hand fans to show their anger against the load shedding.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Suraya bibi, a diehard worker of PPP, said that she was very happy as her beloved party is back in the game again. “I can still remember the day when Benazir Bhutto came back Pakistan from her exile in April 1986 and decided to land at Lahore airport, and there was a sea of people on the roads that day. The same spirit can be seen among jiyalas in today’s gathering,” she said.
Napolean Qayyum, a minority worker of PPP from Youhanabad, told this scribe that the public meeting of today has proved that the days of PML-N have been numbered. “The PPP is the only democratic party of the country and we know very well how to run public movements on the roads,” he said.
PPP central Punjab president and the main organiser of PPP’s public show Qamar Zaman Kaira delivered his whole speech in Punjabi and warned the rulers that PPP has come on roads and now it will become difficult for Sharif brothers to stay in the power.
“The history has witnessed that Zia ul Haq, Parvez Musharraf, Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Farooq Laghari were ousted from the power when the workers of PPP came on the roads and the history will repeat itself,” Kaira said.
He revealed that this time PPP agreed to hold its meeting at Nasser Bagh but it will hold its next meeting at Minar-i-Pakistan where Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will address a large public gathering in Lahore.
