so that is all PMLN has gathered to show after hiring 200 cameramen?
Lights, camera, action: PML-N greenlights its anti-shutdown strategy
By
Abdul Manan
Published: December 14, 2014
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Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif waves to the media after a meeting at number 10 Downing Street in central London on December 5, 2014. PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD:
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) has endorsed a novel plan to hire 200 cameramen for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s shutdown call of Lahore on December 15, The Express Tribune has learnt.
Sources close to the party said the Punjab government intends to deploy the cameramen to make footage of PTI protesters and use the recordings later as evidence against PTI workers ahead of the registration of FIRs. The cameramen have been hired from Sunday night to Monday night.
After applauding the idea, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif quickly approved it. Sources said that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Hamza Shahbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah Khan briefed the PM about the government’s troubleshooting strategy on December 15. They said the party is determined not to repeat its Faisalabad strategy here in Lahore.
The Punjab government has asked the business community to keep open their businesses for a part of the day and its hired cameramen will make videos of this. Later, the media sections of the Punjab government and federal government will air the recordings to show how Lahore was running smoothly. Traders of the city have reportedly been approached by PML-N’s Lahore President Malik Pervez, and have given him an assurance that they will open their markets early in the morning till 12pm. Traders will decide how long they will keep their shops open in view of the situation.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif apprised the PM that in addition to the police, he has decided to deploy Punjab Rangers as well in order to give added protection to the city’s businessmen and to control PTI workers.
All PML-N lawmakers in the city have been asked to remain behind the scenes on December 15. In case PTI workers try to sow discord, they intend to point it out to the cameramen, and later support police in registering cases against them.
How to save the speaker
The PML-N leadership has also devised its strategy on both talks with PTI as well as legal remedies for saving the seat of National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, sources privy to the development told
The Express Tribune.
About dialogue with PTI, the party’s negotiators led by Senator Ishaq Dar are not expected to budge from their earlier position. The ruling party has decided that it won’t accept any PTI demands which would help PTI in making doubtful the 2013 elections.
The sticking points are the definition of rigging, work plan, framework for the Judicial Commission (JC) and inclusion of retired judges or members of Military Intelligence and Inter Services Intelligence Agency. The ruling party is not expected to show any flexibility on these counts. The party will offer PTI the option of an inquiry on massive rigging in the general election, and that the commission should do work independently.
For the moment, PML-N officials believe that PTI has only exit strategy — that is through the joint commission. Despite that it is not ready to give Imran Khan any room for manoeuvring his way out.
Talking to
The Express Tribune, Federal Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid said that Imran wants to throw out all 272 MNAs from the National Assembly and nullify the entire 2013 polls “through his baseless allegations”.
He said that the joint commission will work under Pakistan Inquiry Act 1956 and will probe allegations of rigging. He also claimed that since Imran’s Faisalabad and Karachi shutdown calls have “flopped”, his options are increasingly limited.
Trump in danger
Party sources said that the PML-N leadership has sought detailed briefings on Ayaz Sadiq’s case as he is the NA speaker and the party does not want him to lose his seat at any cost. The sources confirmed that the ruling party’s leadership has decided that neither the Punjab government nor the federal government would openly assist Sadiq but would continue its work through backdoor channels. They have asked Sadiq to avail all legal remedies and to contest his case like a game of chess.
Sources said that Sadiq has offered firm guarantees that there is no chance of finding any evidence of rigging if bags are opened in the coming days.
However, he expressed fears that there might be some missing ballot bags of NA-122, leading to the possibility of the commissioner declaring the records doubtful.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 14th, 2014.
