Actions speak louder than words but our prime minister keeps on repeating familiar phrases ‘NRO nahi don ga (will never award concessions to the opposition leaders) whenever and wherever he gets a chance to speak about any issue under the sun. In his recent interview aired on a national TV channel, Prime Minister Imran Khan said opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) would not be permitted to hold their public meeting in Lahore on December 13, though no force would be used to stop the rally. Justifying his strategy, he says cases would be registered against the opposition leaders and all those who would facilitate them in making arrangements for the public meetings in violation of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) to stop spread of Covid-19. It means the vendors facilitating the organisers would face criminal cases. In his own words, the prime minister says first information reports will be filed against those providing them sound system and chairs. Well, just to remind Mr Khan, the government banned PMD’s Multan rally too but the alliance went ahead with the plan. At the eleventh hour, the alliance was given permission to hold the rally. Did the government come up with any visible action against those who earlier broke open the locked gate of the Qasim Bagh Stadium? Let’s see how the government reacts to the Lahore rally. The thing is if the government wants to ban the rally for saving the public health in view of the prevailing pandemic, it must enforce its writ. It should engage the opposition leaders convincing them to defer the plan for some other day. In case of deadlock, it should mobilize public opinion against the opposition. At the end of the day, this is the government that will be answerable to the public on the corona control. Then comes the most hyped-up phrase in the interview: I will not give them NRO come what may. This carries the tinge of revenge or anger. Mr Prime Minister, let the rule of law work and you will not have to repeat this phrase. Since the inception of your rule, we have seen the institution of many cases followed by arrests. The irony is most of the cases have ended up nowhere. Those arrested have either been released on bail or acquitted of the charges. It is high time our politics came out of the old times and start talking about something deliverable. *