LAHORE: A PML-N huddle, with the party president in the chair here on Saturday, asked Shahbaz Sharif to resume the rallies from where his niece Maryam left.

“The opposition leader in the National Assembly agreed to the suggestion, saying the workers conventions in different cities across the country will continue and the PML-N will not be cowed by the arm-twisting tactics of the Imran Khan government,” a party insider told Dawn after the meeting.

The meeting was held in Model Town and attended by Ahsan Iqbal, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Rana Tanvir Hussain, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Khurram Dastgir, Awais Leghari, Pervaiz Malik and retired Capt Safdar.

Before her arrest in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case on Thursday, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz was apparently pulling large crowds in rallies across Punjab and was scheduled to lead a public gathering in Muzaffarabad on Aug 15 to express solidarity with the people of India-held Kashmir.

There was an opinion in the meeting that Mr Sharif should lead the Muzaffarabad rally as it would serve as a perfect platform for giving a strong reply to the Modi government as well as launching a scathing attack on Prime Minister Imran Khan for, what the PML-N alleged, “selling out Kashmir”.

“Shahbaz Sharif has given his consent to lead the rally. However, a final decision in this regard will be taken in a day or two,” a source said.

After the meeting, the PML-N said in a statement that it would not allow the government to bargain over national interest, nuclear assets and Kashmir. “The PML-N says it cannot be silenced by pressure tactics of the imposed PTI regime. It will continue raising its voice for farmers, industrialists and workers of Pakistan and will fight for the rights of all Pakistanis, including traders, businessmen, shopkeepers and hawkers,” the statement read.

It further said that in the huddle it had been decided that the mass-contact campaign would become more exuberant. The meeting also expressed concern over inflation, unemployment, unprecedented increase in electricity, gas and edible items prices.

“Arrests and abuses will not stop the opposition from exposing the blatant lies of Imran Khan Niazi. The PML-N is not new to smear campaigns and character assassination by despotic forces and the people of Pakistan have always rejected such venomous propaganda,” the party said.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2019