THE Lahore rally on Friday was expected to be the PML-N’s mission statement of its struggle to topple President Asif Zardari. This was only partially achieved by Mr Shahbaz Sharif’s emotion-packed address at the large public meeting. The speech conveyed how determined, even desperate, the PML-N is to see the back of Mr Zardari, but fell far short of spelling out the party’s strategy towards achieving this goal. Mr Sharif mentioned parliament as a possible forum where Mr Zardari could be held accountable for his acts. Since the PPP and its allies have a majority in parliament, the PML-N is more likely to follow the second option the chief minister indicated: widespread public agitation. Their public messages in recent days clearly indicate the PML-N politicians are hoping that a relentless assault on the presidency will throw up its own choices and its own road map for a forced Zardari exit. The party, the PML-N politicians say, is keeping ‘all’ options open.

It is obvious that when push comes to shove, Pakistan politicians are prepared to fall back on a past they otherwise tell us they have come out of. Much of the energy of both politicians and their supporters has been spent on painting the current times as being different from the acrimonious and ugly 1990s. Whatever impact the ostensible resort to decency had sought to leave on the minds of the people, the impression has been dispelled by the tone and content of Mr Sharif’s diatribe against President Zardari at the Lahore rally. Indeed, the brute force with which he delivered his point of view led to questions being asked about whether he was in any way doubtful about the potency of the issues he was raising. The most perplexing part was when he took time out of his attempt to woo ‘disgruntled’ PPP workers to his side, attempting to get such elements away from not only Mr Zardari but also Imran Khan, who is scheduled to hold a public meeting of his own today. Mr Sharif threatened the president and the PPP leader with a hanging (only an upside-down hanging in this case). It was perhaps this statement that had the PPP and its allies all over the country up in arms and shouting with disgust.

The sadder part is that the ‘derogatory’ remarks could well be just a reminder of the shape of things to come. Not a good promo for future politics in a country where the real issues of the people have routinely been eclipsed by the cheap, emotional, revenge-laden antics of their leaders.