The PML-N chief, Nawaz Sharif, has finally made a demand for a snap poll, although the next general election is scheduled to be held in 2013. In a veiled threat as what newspapers say, he has threatened the coalition government to dissolve the national and provincial assemblies and call fresh elections or else his party would have no option but to stage a 'long-march'.
The strategy the former prime minister of Pakistan has employed clearly suggests that his party has formally started its election campaign regardless of the election date - snap election or scheduled election. It is interesting to note that his party is also accused of taking the country to this pass because it rules the largest province of the country.
Although, the 2009 'long march' for the restoration of judiciary owes its success to the timely intervention of the army, it is not known whether or not Nawaz Sharif's upcoming 'long march', if any, will be another success because the political situation in relation to the government-army relationship is quite different from what it was two years ago.