PM to face tumultuous politics on homecoming

Upcoming general elections in AJK pose another challenge for PML-N

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif may face difficulties once he returns home after recovering from heart surgery in London in the backdrop of challenges involving internal politics and external factors influencing Pakistan’s policy-making with particular reference to India.

Ranging from the Panama leaks controversy to the upcoming polls in Azad Kashmir and the impact of the federal government’s policy vis-à-vis India on Azad Kashmir politics amid fast unfolding scenario on this front, pertinent issues are likely to give the premier and his team a tough time.



For now, the Panama leaks issue may have been relegated to the backburner but many believe the controversy would reignite once PM Sharif returns to Pakistan.

Publicly, the PML-N leaders may boast about their political resolve to brave challenges, but privately, they believe that things are not so simple.



Insiders say even though the party is not oblivious to the situation, but it remains to be seen if the opposition manages to dent the PML-N political graph over Panama leaks issue.

At present, all is not well within the N-League ranks. The Express Tribune learnt on good authority that PTI’s adamant stance about the inclusion of the PM’s name in the terms of reference (ToRs) has sent shudders of unease within the party’s top command.

PTI has also threatened to take to the streets if the party’s demands are not met. The PM’s arrival in such hostility is a scenario the N-League desired never to encounter.

“We don’t want any political disturbance when the PM lands here, at least till he settles down a bit,” a PML-N bigwig, desirous to go unnamed, said.

Senior N-League stalwart Zafar Ali Shah says: “It’s all about the opposition. If they … devise a tough yet workable strategy, things can be different. Otherwise, the Panama leaks issue will lead nowhere.”



Asked if he saw this issue reigniting after the premier’s return, Shah responded cautiously: “This much I can say: things are far from satisfactory.”

Upcoming general polls in Azad Kashmir on July 21 posed another big challenge for the PML-N. It remains to be seen whether the aura surrounding the premier’s personality could weave any magic spell. One of the main leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) in Pakistan, Syed Yousaf Naseem, said that the PML-N needed a policy overhaul.

“The Indian factor plays a major role in Azad Kashmir politics. The PML-N’s soft stance towards India in the wake of growing Indian atrocities in Occupied Kashmir will take its toll. There is a deep-rooted feeling among general public in Azad Kashmir that the top political leadership in Pakistan, despite its Kashmiri origins, has failed to live up to the expectations of the Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC),” he told The Express Tribune. “This will not go unnoticed in the polls.”

Asked what if the PML-N toughened its Indian policy ahead of the polls, Naseem said that such a policy was urgently needed.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2016.