PM Abbasi eyes uniting rival PML-N groups

Party concerned that open hostilities between Sana and Sher Ali groups could dent its vote bank in industrial city

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is expected to visit Faisalabad today (Saturday) in a bid to strike reconciliation between feuding groups in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

Apparently, the visit is taking place on the pretext of inaugurating a new terminal at the Faisalabad International Airport.

However, the PM’s trip to one of the Punjab’s major cities also entails political dimensions at a time when internal divide between party stalwarts is becoming visible, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Two strong political groups in Faisalabad – one led by Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanullah and the other led by former mayor Chaudhry Sher Ali, the father of Minister of State for Power Abid Sher Ali – are locked in serious differences in what comes as a tug-of-war to assert political control over the city.



Lately, the PML-N has moved to unite the party’s ranks by attempting to redress the concerns of powerful lobbies in the N-League ahead of the general elections. In this context, PM Abbasi’s visit is taking place, according to the informed sources.

Faisalabad is regarded as a political hub of the PML-N. As many as 11 seats in the National Assembly fall in Faisalabad – all of which belong to the N-League.

Given its political importance, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif has asked PM Abbasi to play his role in ending disputes between Sher Ali and Sanaullah groups, according to reliable party sources.

The sources said Chaudhry Sher Ali, who is a relative of Nawaz Sharif, feels that his group has been left out in the party’s policies regarding Faisalabad, including allocation of funds in his son Abid Sher Ali’s constituency, provision of jobs to his supporters and related issues.

“He (Sher Ali) feels that despite being a relative of the party chief, his group has been sidelined in the party and the reason is Rana Sanaullah’s ever growing influence on the party’s Punjab chapter,” said a PML-N leader, requesting anonymity.

The source said Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also put his weight behind Sanaullah which is the main reason the Sher Ali group has been sidelined in Punjab’s politics.

“If Sher Ali’s son Abid Sher is a minister at the Centre, it is by virtue of his relationship with the elder Sharif. The Punjab chapter has not accommodated Sher Ali, his sons and their supporters anywhere in Punjab,” sources said.

So serious were the differences between the two rival groups of Faisalabad that in the local government elections in 2015, Sher Ali fielded his own candidates against the party’s policy of backing Rana Sanaullah’s candidates and the former mayor managed to dent the party’s vote bank to a significant extent. However, Sanaullah group had the last laugh and Faisalabad’s mayor belonged to this group.

Since then, the differences between the two groups became too apparent to be ignored, with Abid Sher and Sanaullah publicly hurling insults at one another, the party sources said.

Sher Ali even went to the extent of alleging that Punjab’s law minister was conspiring to get his son killed. Sensing the gravity of the situation, Sharif had intervened and directed both the groups to avoid verbally attacking one another in public and not to issue hostile statements, it is learnt.

Following the development, there has been an apparent ‘ceasefire’ among the two groups, but the party leadership is concerned that serious differences in the PML-N ranks in Faisalabad might end up denting the N-League’s vote bank in the major industrial city and the party bigwigs are taking steps beforehand to melt the ice of hostility.



Party insiders said Shehbaz Sharif and Sanaullah are likely to accompany the prime minister during the Faisalabad airport terminal’s inauguration. The prime minister would also expectedly be flanked by Abid Sher. On the sidelines, Abbasi is expected to hold meetings between members of Sanaullah and Sher Ali groups in the presence of the Punjab chief minister.

Following the same policy of reconciliation, the Punjab chief minister has suggested to Sharif to play his role in brokering mediation between former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and ex-information minister Pervaiz Rashid, who have been publically exchanging accusations against one another.

“Every political party has internal grouping and differences. But this divide shouldn’t become apparent enough to attract public attention or media’s spotlight. Internal issues should be handled internally,” the source explained the PML-N leadership’s policy.