MAYBE, in a corner of Lahore, a group of officials are right now patting each other on the back for a job well done.

It’s been a couple of hours since peace was ensured in the city. Mian Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz arrived in the city and were neatly packed off to their ultimate destination, the Adiala jail. The big day, Friday, has passed without an ugly incident.

The PML-N welcoming rallies have long dispersed, without Mian Shahbaz Sharif, driving at the head of the main procession, ever managing to come close to the Allama Iqbal Airport. There were some arrests, but the official word is that those detained ahead of the rallies are being released. There were clashes between the demonstrators and the police at a few places but overall, the ‘situation was under control’.

This is a simple view based on the assumption how the administration would have wanted it. Some other sets of people may have their own reasons to be satisfied with the episode as it unfolded. Those who were opposing any kind of positive reception for the convicts on board the flight from Abu Dhabi must be very pleased with the way it went.

Friday’s events spark debate about success of PML-N show ahead of July 25 polls

“I have not seen a rally more charged in my life,” said Shahbaz Sahib, on Saturday, as he congratulated “hundreds of thousands of people who had come out on the streets of the city” to greet the popular leader. “The whole of Lahore was out on the streets.”

It is an estimate of participants many are not in agreement with. The city is divided, its view severely contained by all those trucks and trailers that had been placed on various roads to block people from approaching the airport.

According to reports, these containers were later on removed from some places just as the caretaker interior minister for Punjab spoke to the media in an effort to establish his government’s neutrality. In any event, and the minister confirmed it, the rallies were not to be allowed beyond the Abdullah Gul Interchange, which is at a fair distance from the airport.

The debate in Lahore is on. It is going to continue for a long while as people try to thrash out the real value of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz show on Friday. ‘Just how big was it?’ The PML-N admits it could have been bigger, had the caretaker been a little more generous in granting the party space. Political parties are almost silent on the issue with the exception of the Pakistan Peoples Party. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has his own grievances against the Punjab caretakers, his caravan having been intercepted in Uch a few days ago as he tried to revive his party’s fortunes in lower Punjab.

All in all, it is clear that no party is going to risk proximity with the PML-N at this moment and there is so much pressure on the party itself to shun here and now any ideas about travelling in two boats. This is where the rally that Shahbaz Sharif led comes in for some severe criticism. It is being said that it was as lacking in forward movement as much as the PML-N is stuck under the former chief minister, who is in the habit of threatening the government with dire consequences but who doesn’t quite have the leverage now to carry out these warnings.

Shahbaz Sharif comes up with a list of places where the PML-N processions were stopped, to prevent them from coming together and causing a big enough splash as close to the airport as possible. There are FIRs against Shahbaz Sharif, Hamza Shahbaz, Ayaz Sadiq and many other N-League leaders which, apart from accusing them of criminal acts, indicate at least an effort and urge on the part of the party cadres to effectively record their reaction against the jailing of their leaders.

The common man, however, is a little uncertain about giving his verdict on the numbers that did or did not come out in the Sharif hometown of Lahore on the crucial day. He is confused dependent as he is on his favourite media to feed him patterns he can base his perception on.

Most significantly, the pictures aired from Lahore on Friday provided plenty of opportunity to many television anchors to dub the PML-N’s as a flop show and the impression appears to be shared by a lot of people in the city. This indicates that the PML-N’s own supporters in the media have tilted against the Sharifs.

The Sharifs had to show some emotion at this injury caused to them and they are angry at the caretakers. Shahbaz Sahib has threatened the Punjab interim set-up with accountability whereas Mian Sahib has gone as far as calling for the caretaker chief minister of Punjab to step down. Chief Minister Hasan Askari Rizvi had promised to remove with his deeds the impression about him being biased in any way, but so far he has not been able to take the critics’ focus off himself.

Friday’s handling of the PML-N advance may be declared successful on many counts. Everyone knew that Mian Sahib and Maryam Bibi will never be allowed to have an audience with the people upon their return to the country. There was even a prediction that the landing of the two of the most famous Punjabi ‘prisoners’ ever would be lost in a post-sunset Lahore taken over by camera crews cautious not to overexpose. But it will most definitely add to the unwanted reputation the caretakers under Dr Askari have acquired here.

“Sadly I admit with a heavy heart that the system of caretaker governments has miserably failed. This system should be wrapped up as soon as possible,” says a tweet by Ahmed Bilal Mehboob of Pildat, an NGO working for promotion of democracy in the country.

The caretakers are surely in for a lot of flak in the coming days not just from people at large but specifically from the political parties. Even that would be a surplus. The July 25 polls have already been made controversial.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2018