Daily Times

The workers of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have urged its leadership to give a strong call of protest as they all are ready to come on the roads following the verdict of Avenfield corruption reference that was announced on Friday.

Hundreds of PML-N workers from Lahore started gathering outside the residence of party’s president Shehbaz Sharif in Model Town where the party has established its camp office these days while raising slogans against the decision that gave 10 years imprisonment to party’s supreme leader and former three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif. The protesting workers also raised slogans against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan while claiming that he is a pawn of the establishment and all these decisions against the Sharif family are being announced only on the behest of this very establishment.

Several protesters were throwing dust in their heads in protest against the decision while some workers were wearing the white cloth coffin inscribed with slogans “Main bhi Nawaz Hu” (I’m also Nawaz) to show solidarity with their supreme leader. Chaudhry Shafqat Hussain Paanda, who was laying on the floor just outside the party’s camp office in protest, said, while talking exclusively to Daily Times that he came all the way from Chungi Amar Sandhu only to show solidarity with his leader who is innocent and didn’t do anything wrong.

Chaudhry Shafqat Hussain Paanda also criticised all those ticket holders of PML-N who remained successful in getting the party’s ticket but no one from them bothered to come here today in solidarity with Nawaz.

“My 30 years politics revolves around Nawaz and therefore I am here today despite the fact that I could not get the party ticket,” Shafqat said, who is also the party’s president from PP-168.

Maqsood Malik, another PML-N worker who came from Ichra, also while talking exclusively to Daily Times said that “our judiciary and the accountability watchdog are biased towards PML-N and they have also become b-teams of PTI chairman who is an agent of Jewish lobby.

“I only want to ask one question that why our judiciary doesn’t summon Khadim Hussain Rizvi despite the fact that he has used abusive and foul language against the judges of superior court,” he said, while adding that it was really unfair that a person who remained PM thrice had to attend more than a 100 hearings in the accountability court along with his daughter despite the fact that his wife is critically ill. He further added that he is waiting for the final call of protest from the leadership and Nawaz should come to Pakistan as his arrival is necessary for the survival of the party because according to him, only Nawaz has the leadership qualities.

Former member of the Provincial Assembly Rukhsana Kaukab, who came along with over a dozen female party workers, told Daily Times that they all belong from the constituency of Hamza Shehbaz but they came here on their own as no one from the party asked them to reach there.

“Our candidates and workers are busy in running the campaigns in their respective constituencies and therefore one cannot see a large number of protesters today,” she said, when asked the reason behind the low figure of protesters keeping in view that party’s supreme leader was sentenced 10 years’ imprisonment today.

Meanwhile, some workers of PML-N also gathered outside the Lahore Press Club and party’s Lahore office near Nasirabad to show solidarity with the leadership. Former provincial ministers Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rahman and Khawaja Imran Nazir, former federal ministers Khawaja Saad Rafique, Maryam Aurangzeb, Malik Parvez and Senator Mushahid Hussain also visited party’s camp office following the verdict yesterday.

PTI workers celebrated the verdict at the chairman’s secretariat in Lahore where sweets were also distributed and special arrangements were made for the participants to enjoy the live marathon TV transmissions. Meanwhile, Deputy Inspector General Operations Lahore Shahzad Akbar had a round of the whole city to review the law and order arrangements following the verdict. Additional police force and special squads of Anti-Riot Force were also deputed to maintain the law and order and to avoid any untoward incident keeping in view the resentment among PML-N workers.

Published in Daily Times, July 7^th 2018.