Those feeling politically threatened oppose Nawaz’s GT Road rally

ISLAMABAD: Those feeling politically threatened from deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s travel in a cavalcade to Lahore from Islamabad by GT Road have raised a lot of hue and cry, strongly opposing it.

They are worried and apprehend that this journey expected to attract big crowds will significantly wipe out their bloated conviction that they have become very popular and Nawaz Sharif has lost a lot due to the Panama case.

There is no other reason for this opposition except the fear of loss they have. However, the ex-premier is undeterred and he was never likely to pay any heed to such calls from his adversaries.

But there are other politicians, who perceive no political threat from the former prime minister's activity. They chose to leave it to him to go to his “home” via GT Road or Pakistan Motorway or any other mode. They are opposed to those who are against his use of the GT Road.

Qaumi Watan Party chief Aftab Sherpao said that it was for Nawaz Sharif to decide the road route he wants to take to Lahore. Similarly, senior National Awami Party leader Ilyas Ahmad Bilour said that the former prime minister would not ask Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan about the road he would use for his travel to his hometown. “Is the ex-prime minister not a Pakistani?”

Mutahidda Qaumi Movement Pakistan lawmaker Wasim said that in its protests the PTI had even been attacking national institutions and installations and why it is objecting to Nawaz Sharif’s political activity.

However, the PTI chief is particularly disturbed over Nawaz Sharif’s journey to Lahore by GT Road. “Even if people come out in big numbers for Nawaz Sharif, I will show even larger crowds when I will decide to undertake a show of power,” he said.

His recurring refrain is that the deposed prime minister is trying to put pressure on the judiciary, but will fail to achieve his objective. “Article 6 should be invoked against him for not accepting the court ruling,” he stressed.

On the similar lines was the attack of Sheikh Rashid on Nawaz Sharif. Both claimed that the former premier wants an NRO (amnesty). Imran Khan believed that the ex-premier will be able to get nothing as the NAB cases would not be withdrawn against him and he would not be able to exert pressure on the Supreme Court or any other premier institution.

Echoing the same thought, Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Allama Tahirul Qadri rejected Nawaz Sharif’s plan to come to Lahore by GT Road and threatened to block his activity in the Punjab capital. He asked his followers to be ready for a call, but stopped short of fixing a time for this venture.

All these elements were unlikely to put up such a huge opposition to ousted prime minister’s plan had he stuck to his original programme of going to Lahore by the Pakistan Motorway. However, the change of mind in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) happened so as to cash in on the sympathy generated by the disqualification on an insignificant ground.

Nawaz Sharif wants to tell his supporters along the GT Road what was done to him in the Panama case. He has stated in his continuing interactions with media men that he respects the disqualification ruling of the Supreme Court but at the same time has some disagreement with it; and that he has implemented it quickly by relinquishing the office after it was pronounced.

The route Nawaz Sharif has chosen for this important journey has been his electoral stronghold in successive general elections. In the 2013 parliamentary polls, he swept the exercise in Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sialkot and Lahore areas and the adjoining districts. Even otherwise his detractors had kept taunting him that his was the “GT Road” party for having won most seats along the highway.

Nawaz Sharif does not want to fritter away this opportunity when he feels that people at large specifically his supporters have not approved the court judgment and think that he has been ousted on a minor charge.