The Lahore High Court (LHC) has granted bail to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Mian Shahbaz Sharif in both assets-beyond-means and money laundering cases at a very crucial time for the opposition. The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), after huffing and puffing about divisions within its ranks, has finally found nothing better than to request PPP and ANP to review their decisions to leave the alliance. That alone speaks volumes about its anti-state and anti-establishment narrative that has clearly been running out of steam for quite a while now. Yet so far JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman has found a reliable ally in PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz because she seems to share his kind of hatred and poison for the so-called establishment. And Shahbaz’s return to the scene could now dilute PML-N’s hawkish position because he doesn’t share his elder brother’s and niece’s extremist views that make indulging in politics a zero sum game for the opposition. He has always been more flexible and favoured reconciliation over confrontation with the powers that be. This means that we could be in for a power struggle, of sorts, within PML-N as well; pretty much like what has happened within PDM over the last fortnight or so. Maryam’s position is immediately put into question. She has been somewhat uncomfortable ever since Shahabaz’s son, Hamza Shahbaz, was released from custody and brought an element of political maturity that had been missing from his party since the PDM locked horns with the government. Now, with the party president also out and ready to get back to work, it seems the vice president will have to take the back seat at least for the time being. Such adjustment, at a time when PDM is already struggling with opposing interests, might be too much for the alliance to handle. It’s too soon to tell how Shahbaz’s interaction with Nawaz will go about the future course of action, but if the past is any guide then we can expect a bit of rationality to return to PML-N and the opposition’s politics at large. Shahbaz is from the breed of politicians who understand that you do not necessarily have to go directly for the jugular to get the kind of results that you want, but steady political maneuvering is what really does the trick. But that is not going to sit well with Maryam Nawaz or Maulana Fazlur Rahman at the moment. So how this plays out in the near term is anybody’s guess. *