FOR a country that has the sun mercilessly beating down on it for many months in a year, it is remarkable just how unprepared we are for the summer season. It is as if the brief relief from the heat during the ‘winter’ months scratches out all thought of the impending heatwave.

We plan our homes, our lives, according to standards set by countries where summer is a time to be enjoyed. There is visibly little investment in finding ways to make it more bearable for the people here, barring of course the activity inside the air-conditioner factories of which we have so many. They appear to be the only ones working to provide some comfort to their consumers — apart from the travel agents who are out to convince us that the best way to avoid the heat and the electricity bill is to lock up home and run away, even for a limited period.

But there are sometimes restrictions that prevent such momentary escapes from the routine of home life, even if the travel agents tell you that 50 days shy of a general election it is business as usual for them. There are so many for whom this is a return of that particular stretch when they have to stay put at home since they are important people who will be poll candidates. They are to babysit those who have the power to elect them lest they are tempted by other competitors flaunting their candy in the face of innocent voters.

That this is the fasting month adds to the complications of electioneering. The joke doing the rounds is that the leadership of the parties is spending as much time indoors discussing the names of candidates from various constituencies, or pondering over caretaker nominees, as they can. Once the exercise is complete, the politicians, both those who are nominated and their exalted patrons otherwise known as party chiefs, will have no option but to come out and canvass.

That Shahbaz Sahib is still around to lead the party during Mian Sahib’s absence is a reason for a large number of likely election winners to persevere with the PML-N.

PML-N politicians obviously have an extra few tracks to cover before they start campaigning at full throttle. The ‘sudden’ fall in electricity supply throws up questions about the party which its leaders are not good at fielding. Indeed, the most preposterous is the refrain by Mian Nawaz Sharif to counter allegations that his party had failed badly at the self-assigned task of ridding the country of its power woes.

The PML-N had insisted on working, until the last minute of its term, in the service of the people. There was a spurt of inaugurations towards the conclusion of its term, with both the substitute prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and the very original chief minister Shahbaz Sharif with their hands full of invitations to declare open new schemes everywhere.

Understandably, the party thought the timely completion of these projects would help it sustain its reputation as a modern, pro-progress, even if in the classical sense not a progressive, party. However, its antics of late suggest that it actually believed and hoped to have done enough in the energy sector that by the time it went to the voters it would have much to show off. There’s no other explanation of the surprised manner in which Nawaz Sharif and his colleagues reacted to the cries of ‘no bijli’. They have responded too lightly to the protests.

Everyone is entitled to their naive moments every now and then. In the case of Mian Sahib, the rather simple explanation he comes up with for the ‘sudden’ disappearance of electricity is not just a source of cheap laughter. It is also not commensurate with the high-pitched, high-pedestal and quite ceaseless speech that he has been making. To hold the caretakers responsible for the killing increase in load-shedding hours is not only lame, it is also not befitting to the new ideological status of a speaker of the ultimate truth that Mian Sahib is being sought to be elevated to here and now.

Perhaps Mian Sahib could have tackled it by deflecting these everyday questions towards his long-time understudy Shahbaz Sharif. Mian Sahib could concentrate fully on his ideological preoccupations and trust Shahbaz Sahib to deal with bijli and the rest of the mundane things in the most efficient way only he can. And Shahbaz Sahib has already demonstrated that he is not too bad at executing authority passed on to him by his elder brother, even if the shift was unavoidable because of circumstances.

So far the transfer of power from Nawaz Sharif to Shahbaz Sharif has not aroused the demons that so many thought the sensitive task could unleash. Contrary to predictions, Shahbaz Sahib’s ‘dictatorial’ tendencies do not overtly feature in news stories and in gossip and rumours about people wanting to leave the PML-N. That Shahbaz Sahib is still around to lead the outfit during the forced absence of Mian Sahib is a reason for a large number of likely election winners to persevere with the N-League.

Unless it has been written in the stars that eventually Shahbaz Sharif will also be unavailable to lead the PML-N, he does appear in the mood and has the wherewithal to further press his credentials as more than a worthy replacement for Mian Sahib, who must now be left to go on his political pilgrimage to the land of ideology. Provision of bijli and other sundry affairs such as who will be suspended from the polls and jobs and who will be dragged in the streets after a PML-N victory can be left in the able hands of our most celebrated Shahbaz Sahib.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2018