Liaqat Bagh Rally.

For the first time since that tragic day in 2007, the Pakistan People's Party returned to Liaqat Bagh. The significance of this moment was not lost on anyone. Garhi Khuda Bakh's marble domes will forever host the remembrance of Benazir Bhutto's martyrdom, but a return to the spot of her assassination is a far more symbolic event. This was PPP's act of defiance, it returning to Punjab after having been restricted to Sindh after the last few general elections, a show of political force instead of a solemn ceremony. Attended by almost the entire leadership of the party all eyes were on Rawalpindi to see what trajectory the party would take in these uncertain times.

Such political observers were left sifting the rally for tangible points of action. The rally did not lack in flowing rhetoric, fierce criticism of the government and defiant posturing, but there was nothing new in any of these counts. PPP, especially the co-chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, has already been quite outspoken during this government's tenure; in context and...