LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will be reaching the city on Sunday for the first time after his ouster on the Supreme Court orders the previous Friday.

Nawaz Sharif will leave Islamabad for Lahore through motorway on Sunday, says Senator Dr Asif Kirmani, ex-political secretary to the ousted premier, adding a meeting of the central working committee of the party may also be convened in Lahore next week.

The local chapter of the party is planning a big reception on the arrival of its leader and has formed various committees to make arrangements and mobilise workers in this respect, he adds.

MNA Hamza Shahbaz, son of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, on Thursday convened a meeting of the party’s local leadership, members of the parliament and the metropolitan corporation to assign them duties regarding the event.

Lord Mayor retired Col Mubashar Javed will head the security committee, while provincial minister Zaeem Qadri and PML-N city chapter information secretary Imran Goraya will coordinate with the media.

Mr Goraya says Mr Sharif will be received at Babu Sabu interchange of the motorway in the evening. From there a procession will be taken out up to the shrine of Hazrat Ali Hajveri (Data Sahib) outside Bhatti Gate through Bund Road, Niazi Chowk, Ravi Road and Azadi Chowk, he adds.

He claims it would be a grand reception exhibiting popularity graph of the party as well as its leader who, he says, has steered the country out of the darkness of load shedding.

The Lahorites, he says, will prove that Nawaz Sharif is the most popular leader of the country.

Observers say that the choice of motorway instead of the GT Road for his travel to his hometown of Lahore gives the message that Mr Sharif has decided not to get involved in an open fight against the establishment. For, if he takes the GT Road, it will mean that he is mobilising the activists of his party, which holds sway in the areas along a major artery of Punjab, they add.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2017