Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice-President and daughter of Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz has left her Jati Umrah residence in Lahore to head for Faisalabad, where she is set to hold a political rally. This rally is the second of a series of protest rallies that Maryam Nawaz has announced across the country from July 21 for justice for her father, rule of law and freedom of expression. According to Maryam, these series of rallies are not just for PML-N members but for every Pakistani “who wished to live in a free, democratic and just Pakistan”.
The first rally was held in Mandi Bahauddin and this protest in Faisalabad is to be the second of many, according to PML-N. This is the first proper organised opposition movement spearheaded by Maryam since her incarnation, and it will be interesting to see how successful the movement led by the most unpredictable Sharif will be. Judging by Maryam’s approach, which is perhaps the most confrontational tone any PML-N leader has held against the government, she will not hold back in these rallies either.
Certainly the odds are against her. There is the fact that her opposition efforts have received little solidarity from other opposition members. For a time it seemed as if a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and PML-N alliance, or perhaps most accurately, a Bilawal Bhutto and Maryam Nawaz alliance, might be in the books but that ship appears to have sailed. Maryam’s biggest obstacle will be that most of PML-N’s powerful leaders are either in jail or have not unequivocally supported her opposition efforts. The Shehbaz Sharif wing of the party seems reluctant to be vocal, and there are rumours of PML-N parliamentarians conspiring to join PTI. Currently the strongest ally appears to be Fazlur Rehman, who is eager to latch on to any opposition effort that happens.