WITH the passage of a bill to muzzle criticism of those in high offices, the Punjab Assembly has taken the lead in legislating fresh curbs on free speech with heavy penalties, even as it says this move isn’t directed at legitimate media criticism but to regulate defamatory content and ‘fake news’.

That the PML-N government, under its chief minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif who opposed such curbs when in opposition, decided to do this signifies a number of things. The first is that the party now seems to be certain it has lost support in its power base of Punjab where it appears to be struggling to counter and contain the traction PTI’s narrative has found among the electorate.

Therefore, the second, and equally important, factor is that the PML-N now appears totally reconciled to being a junior partner in the current manifestation of the hybrid set-up, as the party feels that is perhaps the only way it can survive in office during the period it attempts to rebuild its lost support.

However, there is a catch here. A party in power can regain lost popularity only through exceptional governance and by spending huge amounts of money on projects where there is a demonstrable benefit to the voter. Can the PML-N government do this?

A party in power can regain lost popularity only through exceptional governance.

With the economy the way it is in the IMF straitjacket, there is very little chance that any feel-good........

© Dawn