Although beyond the confines of Lahore and the province, before discussing anything, we need to talk about the fact that terrorism seems to be rearing its ugly head again - a truly worrying and alarming situation.

The recent attacks in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in addition to earlier attacks, not only led to the death of two senior politicians but also scores of others party workers. With elections just around the corner, one just hopes that the caretaker government and other stakeholders responsible for providing security can come together and ensure that all the recent gains made in war against terror are not entirely reversed.

It was during these attacks that the under target and sentenced former premier, decided to return with his daughter, according to him, to retain the dignity of the vote and rescue an imperiled democracy under threat by the ‘the state above the state.’ This was contrary to what people had assumed after his initial hesitant reaction. With the finalisation of his return, preparations by the caretaker government were under way for his arrest and thwarting any confrontations with PML-N’s workers. To describe the measures deployed in Lahore as ‘overkill’ would be an understatement.

Having to go out in the morning on some errands to Shadman, at a government office and a bank, the traffic though thin, seemed to be normal. It was coming back that one discovered that the cell service was off and in some places internet services disrupted. Containers were placed at all major arteries leading to Lahore and towards the airport. Processions from other cities were checked. Preemptive arrests of party worker continued from over the past couple of days. Helicopters and private planes were at hand at various airports, to whisk away the former PM and his daughter, immediately upon landing.

Even with all these measures in place, the main procession from Muslim Masjid, Lahori Gate, led by the younger brother and his son, met with little or no hindrance on its way to the airport. As to the expected showdown built up inordinately by the electronic media over the entire day, it turned out to be a bit of damp squib. Immediately, upon landing a contingent of security personnel boarded the plane with little or no resistance from the loyalists accompanying their leader and took the father-daughter pair to a private plane, which then took them to Rawalpindi. Whatever the eventual outcome, the return has injected some much-needed impetus to the PML-N: from a whimper to a roar, even a caged lion remains dangerous.

Despite much planning and a significantly delayed flight, the welcome procession only managed to make it to the Governor House on The Mall. The former chief minister seemed in a jubilant mood, despite not making it to the airport; setting many snide tongues wagging that perhaps it was never his intention to make it at all. With his recent elevation to party chief and the incarceration of the elder brother and his daughter, the burden of seeing his party to a clear win, and opening a path for him to ultimate leadership, seems to be squarely on his shoulders.

That we are a cynical and fickle lot, there is no doubt. In continuation of the current judicial activism by the superior court, a fund was launched for two national dams, Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand and the populace asked to contribute towards their construction. Prior to this it seemed that there was consensus on the need for large dams. Yet, as soon as this was announced, an entire corpus of naysayers came to fore; denouncing the possibility, highlighting the defects in planning, pointing out the demerits of large dams and noting the failures of similar initiatives. Perhaps they have point but at least this should not deter us from trying, especially if the intentions behind the initiative seem to be in the right place. — (AmLahori@gmail.com)

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2018