LAHORE: Was it a message of unity for workers at a time when reports were doing the rounds that Sharifs’ scions were trying to outdo each other to become the family’s political heir?

With Hamza Shahbaz in the driving seat, Maryam Nawaz in the front seat and Kulsoom Nawaz in the back seat, a black Land Cruiser left Model Town at the head of a rally to mark formal launch of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president Nawaz Sharif’s central election office in the NA-120 constituency.

Party activists had started reaching the Model Town office by noon. Some of them were led by former MPs and aspirants for party tickets like Khwaja Saad Rafiq and Zaeem Qadri.

Some youngsters came with bands and danced to drumbeats amid slogans like “Sher Aya’ (here comes the lion) and ‘prime minister Nawaz Sharif’. A pair of dancing horses was another attraction there.

T-shirts bearing ‘Nawaz Sharif TIGERS’, with a picture of Sharif on the front and a tiger on the back were distributed to rally participants. Women were seen wearing green shawls to highlight the colour of the party flag.

Two men wearing artificial hides of big cats were sitting on the top of a jeep, while many vehicles were decorated with toy tigers.

The number of activists was not more than 500 and a few of them, particularly from Islamia College Railway Road and other educational institutions of the Walled City, were directed to join the rally at its termination point.

A lack of enthusiasm in some activists suggested that they had been ‘brought in’. Kaneez Fatima, a middle-aged participant, admitted that she had been driven in on the promise that she would be helped financially.

“We’re beginning with the name of Allah and if He willed we will secure victory,” said Maryam in a brief talk with the media from the window of her vehicle.

Kulsoom Nawaz made a victory sign, but chose to stay silent, as police vans encircled the vehicle and escorted it to Lower Mall opposite Nasser Bagh, where the Sharifs were to open the election office.