PML-N workers want party supremo to return soon

Believing that the party’s supreme leader will return despite being convicted by the accountability court, local Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) said Nawaz Sharif’s return is all the more necessary to revive ideological politics and for building momentum of the party’s election campaign.“Mian Sahib should immediately return if he wishes to take his ideological fight against non-democratic forces to its logical end. His homecoming will also boost the morale of party activists needed to ensure win in the polls,” said Naeem Mir, who represents the trading community, a virtual constituency of the PML-N, in the party.He further said that the verdict has sent a negative message to the rank and file of the party, putting workers under pressure, and cautioned that the pressure would not go away if the supremo did not return.PML-N media co-ordinator Muhammad Mehdi asserted that the conviction of Nawaz Sharif will achieve what was expected by those who wished to see the party leadership removed from public scene.History is proof that reaction against allegedly unjustified treatment of a party leader adds to the popularity of the party instead of going against it, Mehdi said, citing the hanging of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the assassination of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairperson Benazir Bhutto.He claimed that Friday’s verdict did not shock party activists as they had been expecting it for quite some time, adding that those who had to quit the party had already done so and that there will not be further defections.Chaudhry Abbas Jutt, chairman of a Shahdara union council, said that they are not deterred by the conviction of their leader.Rather, he said, they are happy that Sharif remains defiant and is ready to be imprisoned for the cause of democracy.Soon after culmination of a corner meeting held in the area and addressed by former member of the National Assembly (MNA) Hamza Shahbaz, Jutt said that they will peacefully protest the “unjustified” conviction whenever the party asks them to.So far, he said, they were directed to remain indoors and wait for a call from the central leadership.Meanwhile, a handful of PML-N workers held demonstrations yesterday at two spots in the city.More than a dozen activists gathered at the Model Town party office and lodged a protest.PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif and senior party leaders were present inside the office, but did not join in the protest.Shouting slogans against the court verdict, the workers expressed solidarity with Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam, and vowed to join hands with the former premier in his struggle for “respect for the ballot”.