PML-N to try to cash in on PTI’s rift

The failed call for Nov 2 sit-in apparently created a rift between PTI’s K-P and Punjab chapters

ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to focus on its political bastion, Punjab, in view of its arch rival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) failed call for Islamabad’s lockdown and the subsequent rift between PTI’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab chapters.

In the wake of its failed attempt to siege Islamabad on Nov 2, the PTI has put its weight behind its K-P chapter but at the cost of compromising the party’s political graph in Punjab.



Cognizant of the situation, the PML-N has rolled up its sleeves to further dent the PTI’s vote bank by kick-starting ‘aggressive’ political activity in Punjab that envisages enhanced public interaction.

The PML-N has mapped out a two-pronged strategy – to consolidate political gains in Punjab in the first phase and to turn to the K-P subsequently to undercut PTI’s vote bank in the final phase.

The party sources said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s trusted confidantes – Raja Zafarul Haq, Chaudhry Nisar, Khawaja Asif, and Ahsan Iqbal – have advised the premier to shift political focus on Punjab to up the ante against PTI in the backdrop of existing circumstances.

They told The Express Tribune that PM’s recent visit to Kahuta was part of this plan where the premier called the PTI supremo Imran Khan a ‘liar’ without naming him. Nawaz is expected to pay visits to other cities of Punjab in the coming days.

Sources in the PTI also second this viewpoint. According to them, the PTI’s central leadership was ‘very upset’ with the Punjab chapter for its failure to attract protesters in huge numbers to land in Islamabad for the November 2 showdown.

“The party command has complaints but it conveniently forgets the problems we faced— massive crackdowns, arrests and detentions by the Punjab police that literally pushed us to wall. What options did we have in such a scenario?” asked a PTI provincial leader while requesting anonymity.

“Activists from the K-P chapter faced worst kind of shelling overnight at Burhan interchange and adjoining area, true. But who faced worst state power in Punjab for several days? Beatings, crackdowns, detentions, intimidations and other coercive methods.

“And yet we did not deserve a mention by our leadership. If people turned up from K-P in a relative big number, it’s because we have a government there. But even then they failed to put up a big show. Now, expecting us to do wonders in such a hostile environment is a bit too much to ask,” he added.

Imran Khan heaped endless praises on the PTI’s K-P chapter in the November 2 ‘thanksgiving speech’ in Islamabad but his address lacked a mention of the PTI’s Punjab chapter. Reportedly, this fact did not go down well with the party’s provincial leadership and activists in particular.

The PTI’s Regional President and Political Coordinator to K-P’s Chief Minister Zar Gul Khan denied that the K-P chapter was promoted at the cost of ridiculing the Punjab chapter.



“The reports of rift have no truth. They originate from the PML-N camp that is having sleepless nights after the Supreme Court started trial of the prime minister and his family in Panamagate case. Now conspiracies won’t help,” he told The Express Tribune.

Khan accused the PML-N of stealing the public mandate in Punjab through rigged elections in 2013. “Still, we have a strong political presence in Punjab that is expanding and strengthening with each passing day. PML-N’s conspiracies are bound to fail.”

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Raja Zafarul Haq, denied that the PML-N was getting Punjab-centric. “I fail to understand what makes anyone think that PML-N would take advantage of the PTI’s decline in Punjab. We have maximum political representation in Punjab and there is no need to speculate if we continue our political activities in the province,” he said.

Haq claimed that PTI’s blunders had allowed the PML-N to outrival them, and that the PTI was trapped in a self-created mess.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th, 2016.