‘DUSHMAN maray tay khushi naa karyay sajna vee mar jana.” For a man of Shahbaz Sharif’s purpose and energy, the replacement of Habib Jalib with Mian Muhammad Bakhsh would be too obvious a shift. But in sync with the times, on a tour to flood-hit Sargodha areas, the line that abhors those rejoicing at an enemy’s death in disregard of their own fate was accompanied by what has come to form one basic part of the celebrated chief minister’s argument.

If previously Shahbaz’s emphasis was on his glorious development schemes, he has of late been topping it up with a mention of his opponents’ evil designs. In Sargodha on Wednesday once again, he accused the protesters of scuttling the country’s progress.

‘Who would have thought’ is a phrase that has lost its meaning given the routine occurrence of the unexpected around us. But wait a minute … there may be something afoot here. Not too long ago, the province of Punjab, Lahore especially, would be made fun of for its lack of imagination in finding its leaders or finding any faults with its leaders. Alternatively, a jealous Pakistani would emerge from a distant place and enviously congratulate the Lahoris on having found such a permanent answer in Shahbaz Sharif to all their ills. Whereas it would be too harsh to say that the one-man machine has lost its saviour appeal, this must be one of the toughest hours Shahbaz has ever been faced with.

The city the Sharif family has invested so much in over the years has just provided their current opponents a perfect stimulus in their campaign to oust the PML-N government. The PTI rally at Minar-i-Pakistan on Sunday would take some denying and the early signs are that the PML-N is finding it impossible to contain the after-effects of the massive Imran Khan show.

The game is heating up whereas the predictions were that Imran Khan was fighting a lost battle.

It wasn’t a stagnant dharna comprising ‘few thousand’ obstinate souls. It was a gush threatening to inundate long-held Sharif territory. This was the third time since October 2011 that Imran was able to pull a large crowd to the Minar. That is credible enough, for even those who have held jalsas here have avoided attempting a repeat for fear of failure.

There is no shortage of good reasons why someone would want to dissociate from the PTI crowd, or for that matter, with any party one doesn’t feel compelled from inside to support.

Imran and his party can be pulled up for maintaining double standards. They could be confronted for promoting falsehood as facts, and of course, they could be opposed ideologically by labelling them as puppets. The PTI could be told to go find a replacement for Shahbaz Sharif even if it was to be conceded that Imran was now a worthy pretender to the throne in Islamabad. But the time when the PTI could be dismissed with a wave of the hand has long passed.

There are those who have been feigning that the party did not exist, who would now be best advised to recognise the PTI and oppose it if they must as a political force with considerable, and growing, clout in public.

The PTI support in the city is widespread which was reflected so strongly at the Sunday jalsa. It was bigger than the run-up — replete with spirited calls to the people to attend — had suggested. So many ‘appeared’ to be committed to attend the jalsa, but there was some uncertainty as to how big a crowd would actually turn up. After all, only a few weeks ago, Imran’s promised million-man march was thought to have not received a grand enough start in Lahore. The few-hours-long jalsa was, however, more exciting and doable than the never-ending sit-in in Islamabad.

The subsequent days reconfirmed the PTI’s spread in the city and beyond. At the school which was hosting a PML-N lawmaker, at the ceremony where the new chamber of commerce officials took oath, at an event that brought together doctors or the award-giving function presided over by a federal minister, in the office room you were sitting in and the street you were passing through, there was no escape from the ‘Go Nawaz Go’ chant.

No drive has been so incessant in recent years, not even during elections. It is intensifying. This is no joke. It sets the pulse racing, it excites and angers and creates expectancy as if something is about to give.

The game is heating up whereas the predictions were that Imran Khan was fighting a lost battle. Those who only a week ago were asking Imran to call off his ‘futile’ protest are now discussing mid-term polls and not only that but also the slogans which will define the poll campaign. The PPP’s Khurshid Shah, the opposition leader in the National Assembly, has come up with a statement that does not oppose and only questions the method adopted to force a mid-term poll.

It cannot go on like this. There has to be a solution and mid-term polls may be a compromise that could be reached without too much harm to anyone’s avowed democratic credentials. The PML-N would be hoping to do what the PPP did in the last term: seeking to complete its term by cajoling the establishment. It would be tough given Imran’s insistent tone and given the success he has already achieved.

The pressure is going to mount and in the coming days the debate may shift from the need to stick together to save the current parliament. The next possible challenge for the PPP and PML-N et al could be to try and ensure smooth transition from one elected set-up to another. They must be wary of a huge, long bulge of ‘technocrats’ coming in the way.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2014