Maryam Nawaz is approaching the second tier of the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leadership, urging them to motivate the maximum number of activists to accord a warm welcome to her and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif at Lahore airport today, a party official said yesterday.
The move apparently reflects her lack of satisfaction at the pace of arrangements being made by senior leadership and for that reason, she has sprung into action to mobilise the party’s rank and file.
She’s also taking input about possible assembly points for the workers for marching jointly towards the airport, he said, adding that the points would be made public this morning.
Party president Shehbaz Sharif led a rally in the city yesterday to mobilise the party workers.
Sharif and Maryam have been convicted by an accountability court on July 6 for possessing assets beyond their known sources of income.
They will have to first surrender before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) within 10 days of the announcement of the verdict to be eligible to challenge the verdict in an appellate court.
Beside the legal requirement, both Sharif and Maryam are also facing the challenge of improving party’s stakes in the July 25 vote, as observers believe that the PML-N’s electioneering is not gaining momentum in their absence.
The Punjab government has imposed Section 144 in Lahore, which prohibits assembly of more than four people at any one place.
There are reports of diverting the flight carrying the duo to Islamabad or Multan today, while the NAB has declared that the two would be arrested as and when they land in Pakistan.
A PML-N official says that keeping in view the legal bar and other obstacles, they are planning their strategy accordingly.
He says that reports of the flight being diverted are being leaked to confuse the party workers and stop them from reaching the Lahore airport.
He says that party workers would not partake in any violence and would not take the situation to a point where law-enforcing agencies have to arrest them.
“We need our workers free on the polling day, therefore, no such activity will be undertaken that provides law-enforcers a chance to put them behind bars,” he said.