Losses adding up.

IT was not a quiet weekend by any stretch. The PTI, like Downton Abbey's dowager countess, is unfamiliar with the idea of a weekend, as it continued its long march and Imran Khan's media appearances.

Meanwhile, the PML-N remained busy with its lengthy huddle in London. Were they discussing an interim government or the appointment that has us all bamboozled? Only those in the know would have the answer to this. But in all this noise, there was a story noticed by only a few - about yet another film being banned.

Joyland, which has been internationally acclaimed, and passed by some local censor boards, was stopped by a notification issued by the Ministry of Information, which is with the PML-N.

Read: Is Joyland facing curbs for humanising transpersons?

News stories report a senator from a religio-political party may have played a role in this decision. But considering how highly religio-political parties are ranked by those criticising this decision, the flak will be aimed at the Ministry of Information and the PML-N; Marriyum Aurangzeb holds the portfolio.

But in this barrage of questions and criticism, the incident simply underlines how far the PML-N has come in this short year.

Indeed, while we may not be able to agree on who is good for this country and who is not; who should be in power and who shouldn't; who can or cannot run the economy - on which there is little agreement even within parties - few would disagree that the PML-N has lost the most from the April vote of no-confidence. Nope, it is not you-know-who.

It seems as if the PML-N has thrown it all away in the past six months.

Even the party cannot deny it and it doesn't. The riyasat and siyasat line and the struggle and infighting to fix the economy and the dollar, which is interchangeable for some, has taken its toll on the party's 'political capital'.

Read more: Ministry warns of rising inflation, tough economic conditions ahead

This has been discussed to death and conceded by some in the party also. This much is evident by the spate of by-elections it struggled in and tried to explain away. So much so, that many are now publicly stating that the vote of no-confidence was a bad choice, forced on the party by namaloom afraad.

But in this focus on the seats the PML-N is losing, the other loss experienced by the party is going unnoticed - the party's human rights record, which the notification about Joyland has simply highlighted. And to understand this, the PML-N's past...