The metropolitan city and provincial capital Lahore, the stronghold of PML-N for past three decades, was stunningly calm and peaceful on the day after the JIT submitted its final probe report and found the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his children Maryam Nawaz, Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz guilty in charges against them of accumulating wealth. The JIT recommended filing the reference under Section 9 of NAB Ordinance 1999 against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his children.
Political observers here have expressed surprise that though senior federal ministers and close associates of Nawaz Sharif have rejected the JIT report as 'trash', Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Sharif have not said a single word against the JIT's damning report against the elder brother which meant accepting the report as it is. This has given credence to the rumours that a power struggle is going on in the Sharifs' household as to who would replace Nawaz in case he is disqualified to hold public office, they opined.
There was a lull in the Civil Secretariat, the favourites and cronies of the rulers were quite apprehensive about their uncertain future while the ignored or superseded civil servants were happy that "the day of judgment was at last coming" The workers of opposition parties including Tehreek-e-Insaf, PPP, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Awami Tehreek and Pakistan Muslim League-Q are jubilant and active in the city while the PML-N supporters were subdued, clueless and disappointed.
The opposition parties and lawyers community are building up pressure to force Nawaz Sharif to resign and bring in another elected member of his party as leader of the house for peaceful in-house change and continuity of the democratic process. PTI law makers submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly on Tuesday calling for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's resignation after the JIT report.
PML-Q leader Ch Shujat Hussain urged Nawaz Sharif to accept verdicts of constitutional institutions instead of weakening them for personal ego. In a statement he warned that the country cannot afford any constitutional crisis therefore it is inevitable that forces having national outlook must unite on one platform.
Addressing a press conference Pakistan Awami Tehreek Secretary General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur announced that PAT will hold a huge agitation rally on 15th July in front of the Punjab Assembly to press club for resignations of Nawaz and Shahbaz, publication of Justice Baqar Najafi's report on the Model Town massacre and trial of the accused. He said that PAT would also invite other opposition parties to participate in the rally. Amir Jamaat-e-Islami Punjab Mian Maqsood Ahmad said the comprehensive detailed JIT report has proved beyond any shadow of doubt that Nawaz Sharif family had been involved in money laundering, therefore the Prime Minister must resign forthwith.