LAHORE: Life and business activities have returned to normalcy in Lahore after a day of protest rallies, Arab News observed on Saturday.
Life in the city turn into a standstill on Friday when the PML-N leadership asked its workers — not only from the city but also from other parts of the country — to be at Lahore airport to welcome their “leader for life,” three times prime minister Mian Muhammad Sharif, returning home to face jail in a case of “owning assets beyond means.”
An accountability court sentenced Nawaz Sharif to 10 years and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz, to seven years in prison in connection with the purchase of property in London.
A scuffle between the PML-N workers and law enforcement agencies personnel continued on Friday as the political workers were bent on reaching the airport to welcome their leaders Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz, while the police had blocked the roads by placing shipping containers at different locations.
PML-N president Mian Shahbaz Sharif, former chief minister of Punjab, himself led a rally from the historic Lahori mosque that could not reached its destination till the arrival of the flight and transported the duo — Nawaz and Maryam — to Islamabad.
The day after, on Saturday, life returned to normalcy in the provincial capital Lahore.
Public transport was being plied on the roads and barriers had been removed from the entry and exit points of the city.
“The protesters had vacated all the points last night and traffic is running smoothly throughout the city. Entry and exit points are clear and major roads such as motorways, Multan Road and GT Road, Mall Road, Jail Road, Gulberg and Canal roads are cleared for all kind of traffic. Traffic wardens are on duty and no complaint regarding traffic choking has been reported,” chief traffic officer of the city, SSP Malik Liaqat, told Arab News.
The PML-N protesters vacated the roads at midnight when their leader, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, advised them to go back to their homes and support the party on July, 25 — election day — with their votes.
“Routine life is restored and no complaint of disturbance from any corner of the city has been reported,” DIG operations, Shahzad Akbar, told Arab News.
The PML-N at the moment prefers to go for a legal fight after the Friday “power” show and is not in the mood to go on the roads any more.
“The lawyers’ team has met Mian Nawaz Sharif and daughter Maryam to complete the procedure of power of attorney and will challenge the accountability court’s verdict at the available forum,” party chairman Raja Zafarulhaq told Arab News.
The PML-N leadership is focusing on winning votes and getting a majority instead of showing its power on the streets.
“We will show vote power now, not street power. We are concentrating on winning more and more seats for the national assembly,” senior party leader Rana Sanaullah Khan said.
Political analysts have said the party has tested its political power by staging a show on Friday.
“The party is satisfied with the Friday show as the morale of its workers has been boosted. Till election day, they will not bring their workers on the roads and a further plan of action will be announced on election day by the party,” senior political analyst and Group Editor City Media Group, Naveed Chaudhary told Arab News.
