LAHORE: Bureaucracy in Punjab appears wary of the moves Mr Nawaz Sharif would make after his expected return to Pakistan on Monday, saying his [expected] defiant politics may create problems for the civil servants if asked to make arrangements for his security or public meetings.

“With ever vigilant media and the opposition, it would be difficult for us to facilitate the former prime minister,” said a senior provincial government official when contacted to know the arrangements being made for Mr Sharif’s announced return on Monday.

Insiders said the former prime minister was returning to “sort out” NAB cases against his family, and the opposition. His defiance would create problems for Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who, they claimed, did not want any confrontation.

They said police had become cautious in handling any issue relating to any political leader after the conviction of their senior most colleagues in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case, and the seriousness the Model Town incident had attained in view of the Lahore High Court’s direction to make public the judicial inquiry report.

They said the provincial government would in the past provide security to Mr Nawaz Sharif as the prime minister and arrange for his public meetings without fearing any objection from any quarters. It did so when the former prime minister returned home after his disqualification.

But this time it would put the Punjab government of his younger brother into trouble if Mr Nawaz Sharif decides to show defiance with regard to his disqualification or the NAB cases his family and Mr Ishaq Dar were facing.

Refusing any support from the Punjab government or its level below the expectations would make Mian Shahbaz Sharif face the annoyance of his elder brother. “This means the chief minister is going to live between the devil and the deep blue sea in the next few months,” an official said.

Insiders said that the punishment of very senior Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) officers in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case had shaken the police bureaucracy as it had happened for the first time in the history of the country. There had been killings of important people and commoners but no senior PSP officials had ever faced any [court] punishment.

In addition, there was the dread of the trial of the Model Town incident for which police officials and senior civil officers like the homes secretary were being held responsible by the Pakistan Awami Tehreek, they said.

And both the conviction of the two police officials and the Model Town case hearing had made the civil servants to be mindful of their words and deeds so as to avoid any adverse consequences.

They said both [these] examples were likely to force police authorities demand independence from any political interference which they had, of late, been directly seeking during meetings presided over by the chief minister.

Insiders said Shahbaz Sharif had gone to London to convince his brother on the former’s theory of reconciliation. But it looked the decision to return home was taken before the two brothers’ meeting. Mr Ishaq Dar’s return to the country with the prime minister proved that Mr Nawaz Sharif had taken all the decisions before meeting his younger brother.

They said Mr Shahbaz Sharif had gone to London to also ask Mr Nawaz Sharif to make him the PML-N president. But it looked now that Mian Nawaz Sharif was likely to act as the president of the PML-N in the light of the Electoral Reforms Bill 2017 passed by the Senate two days ago. He was expected to run the party while sitting in his Jatti Umra residence or anywhere else.

The bills authorises even disqualified leaders to head their political parties.

“Things are going to change with a supersonic speed in the coming days,” a senior official considered close to Mr Shahbaz Sharif confided to this reporter.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2017