Bilawal to meet Maryam in Lahore today

LAHORE: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will meet PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz today (Friday) to condole the death of her grandmother besides discussing PDM’s movement against Prime Minister Imran Khan. Bilawal reached Lahore Thursday and also held meeting with party stalwarts to devise strategy for the upcoming PDM’s Jalsa at the Minar-e-Pakistan on December 13. The government claimed that it has no plan to place containers at the entry points of the provincial capital. However, the PDM leadership believes that the government will use all the tactics to victimise the opponents like it did in Multan, a few days ago. Apart from discussing the issue of resignations from assemblies, Bilawal and Maryam are expected to discuss the strategy to counter any plan of the government if it uses the option of using force against the PDM activists. Already, Punjab chief minister’s special assistant on information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has apprehended that Maryam has organised a ‘baton force’ to create ‘chaos’ in Lahore and in the political circles, these remarks by Firdous are also being dubbed as a justification by the government to place containers at the entry points of Lahore to avoid or at least to minimise the possibility of any confrontation between the PDM activists and the government. Lahore is a stronghold of the PML-N as well its base camp for decades, where Jalsa will be held on December 13. In the city, the PML-N being the host of the event could easily gather a sizable crowd which could make this public meeting a success. When contacted, federal minister Shafqat Mehmood categorically ruled out the possibility of placing containers in Lahore during the public meeting. He said the government would only ensure that corona SOPs were followed and in case of violation, cases will be registered against the violators.