A tongue-in-the-cheek jibe from PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari might have done the trick, after all. Finally breaking the silence that had begun to raise eyebrows, PML(N)’s supremo leader decided to hop aboard the campaigning bandwagon when the buzz of polling stations could literally be heard nearby. Nevertheless, if Nawaz Sharif had appeared before the public to make a point, it was a very short one. In an extremely brief address to the maiden rally, he had nothing other than travails of the past and motorway nostalgia to offer the ordinary Pakistanis who had perhaps gathered around him, hoping for unprecedented relief or ways to turn their fortune. There were no lofty talks of the manifesto, no feel-good moments centring on his excellence ushering in a new era of prosperity and surprisingly, no mention of the election itself. This neither-here-nor-there appearance, totalling a measly 10 minutes, saw Mr Sharif awkwardly waddling like a swan as he tried a mix of buzzwords and loud jingles to do the magic for him. But while refraining from election chatter could be understood in him being privy to some uncertainty about February 8, deliberately choosing to not bring up Jaishul Adl is worrying. On a day when the security concerns loomed large, his inability to utter a single word on what transpired on the Pak-Iran border reeked of a cold, almost impenetrable apathy. What is worth remembering is that when the entire country seemed united on the issue of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, Mr Sharif, then in the capacity of prime minister, had similarly buried his head in the proverbial sand. Amid ommissions of references from the UN address and strict instructions to the foreign ministry to act tight-lipped, the then premier had chosen to stand far away from the burning cabinet he was supposedly in charge of. Today, when sentiments are running high in all directions and all of Pakistan is denouncing the attack on its sovereignty, the entire party leadership is treating it as a non-affair. Does PML(N) wish to bang the drum of selective patriotism when it comes to issues of national importance? *