- PML-N turns a new leaf
On Friday the PML-N challenged some of the common assumptions about its politics. There was a popular belief, based on past experience, that in the absence of Nawaz Sharif the party was bound to become dysfunctional and would not be able to launch a major protest. Many believed that the party workers would avoid confronting an establishment determined to oust Sharif from politics for good. What one saw yesterday challenged the conventional wisdom regarding the PML-N
Thousands of people from all over Punjab came out into the streets in a peaceful display of solidarity with Sharif in their respective towns defying the harsh measures that were employed to stop them from proceeding to Lahore. Groups of party workers from KP and AJK also tried to reach Lahore but were disallowed by police from traveling to their destination. Despite hundreds of party loyalist having been arrested in Lahore in night raids, hundreds of others managed to join the rally led by Shahbaz Sharif while hundreds of others played hide and seek with police as they tried to reach the city airport.
The draconian measures like tear-gassing and baton-charging employed by police after the imposition of Section 144 were unjustified as the PML-N leadership had assured the authorities that their march to the airport would be a nonviolent display of solidarity with Sharif who, along with daughter Maryam, had come to serve the sentence and appeal against Avenfied verdict. Stopping people from joining a peaceful gathering was a denial of their constitutional rights and was bound to lead to skirmishes wherever the workers were forcibly stopped from proceeding towards their goal. This proved that the authorities, which had allowed other political parties to hold rallies, were not even-handed.
Throughout the day the media continued to report on the PML-N’s rally in Lahore and how the party activists in the city and the province resisted or outwitted the police. The daylong confrontation indicated that the PML-N was entering a new phase, that of challenging the establishment. It remains to be seen if the party can retain the posture which has so far been alien to it beyond the Friday show of solidarity with Nawaz.
