ISLAMABAD: Maryam Nawaz Sharif swapped her own photo for former Pakistan Muslim Leagu-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Nehal Hashmi’s on Twitter, minutes after he was held in contempt by the Supreme Court, stripped of his Senate seat and sentenced to a month’s imprisonment.

Now Maryam’s 4.38 million followers see the grey-haired Nehal Hashmi standing at a lectern in a dark suit and tie on her Twitter profile, instead of her smiling face. Seeing this change, they must also ask if it represents a significant gear-change in the PML-N’s campaign.

In the first phase of the PML-N campaign that followed the Panama Papers leaks, the party kept its faith in the judicial system and seemed to congratulate itself rather prematurely when a 3-2 verdict sent the matter for further investigation to a joint investigation team (JIT) rather than lead to the disqualification of the prime minister.

The PML-N’s suspicions were raised when the JIT was formed with members not seen as sympathetic to the party although Nawaz Sharif and his children, and PML-N stalwarts such as Ishaq Dar, did agree to appear before it for multiple hours’ long sessions in the hope of placating the judges.

Then, when the court disqualified Nawaz Sharif from holding public office, the PML-N went into protest mode and the ousted prime minister started touring the country to galvanise support behind his campaign to be seen as a political martyr a martyr who’d been wronged by the judiciary possibly with the military’s backing, and whose victimhood narrative seemed to be gathering traction as crowds started to grow at his rallies and public meetings in the Punjab and parts of KP.

While Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his close friend-ally Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the confrontational politics chosen by party leader Nawaz Sharif and his apparent chosen successor Maryam was harmful for the party, the latter seemed to have ignored their reservations.

But there is doubt that Hashmi’s comments, though completely over the top and unacceptable, were made with the intention of achieving anything other than the applause of a small yet charged partisan crowd at an obscure meeting, away from the prying eyes of the media.