Challenges PML-N govt faced during its uneven journey
Since coming into power on June 1, 2013, the N-League took what many say was a collision course
Since coming into power on June 1, 2013, the N-League took what many say was a collision course. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Despite multifaceted challenges and speculations about its premature end, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) federal government has finally completed its tenure.
However, the PML-N’s stint in power was never a smooth sailing. Since coming into power on June 1, 2013, the N-League took what many say was a collision course.
Since day one, the government seemed all inclined to take solo flight on given issues without engaging the key stakeholders. It was hostile to opposition parties, indifferent to parliament and unaccommodating to security establishment on matters of national security.
Rigging allegations, Lahore carnage and sit-in
The first major challenge that the PML-N government faced came in the shape of an allegation of rigging in the 2013 general polls, levelled by a political foe as formidable as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
With the end of PML-N's term, SBP's reserves stand at just $10.03b
Initially, it all started with the PTI demanding to launch a through probe into four seats of National Assembly where Imran Khan’s party smelled foul play.
The government’s adamant stance not to accept the opposition party’s demand aggravated the matter and finally ended in the infamous sit-in episode jointly launched by PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) in August 2014.
While Imran Khan’s party claimed to occupy Islamabad’s D Chowk in its quest of justice for ‘stolen mandate,’ Dr Tahirul Qadri jumped into the fray on the pretext of ‘avenging’ the killings of over a dozen PAT workers who were brutally killed in Model Town police operation in June 2014.
No place for turncoats in PML-N, says minister
More than four-month long dharna episode proved nothing less than a nightmare for the rulers but they finally remained ‘unharmed’ as both the PAT and the PTI had to eventually call off the protest.
The PML-N government blamed the protest on ‘hidden hands’ in an obvious reference to the security establishment, which, according to many, marked the beginning of the tension between security establishment and N-League’s government.
Panamagate scandal
In April 2016, Panama Papers rocked the globe and sent ripples across Pakistan’s socio-political arena as they unveil names of hundreds of Pakistanis including sons and daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who had secreted their assets in offshore havens.
The PTI and other opposition parties wanted the matter to be probed. The government at first agreed to form a commission to probe into the scandal but the ruling party and the opposition parties failed to develop consensus of the terms of reference (ToRs) of the commission. Later Khan and his party toughened up their stance demanding the then premier Sharif’s resignation.
PML-N to give tickets to new members for upcoming polls
Confident that nothing would come out of Panama Leaks, the government wrote a letter to the then chief justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali to form a judicial commission to investigate Panamagate but the CJP declined to entertain the request.
The matters between government and opposition kept getting from bad to worse and Khan threatened to lockdown the federal capital in November 2016. It was then that the Supreme Court decided to intervene and hear Panama Leaks case.
After weeks of proceedings, the CJP Jamali declared that the case would be heard afresh in the first week of January 2017. Jamali’s successor, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, started the case proceedings and formed a new bench.
After several hearings, the SC decided to form a six-member joint investigation team (JIT) to dig deeper into the corruption scandal. The JIT comprised of members of the Federal Investigation Agency, the State Bank of Pakistan, the National Accountability Bureau, the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan, the Inter-Services Intelligence and the Military Intelligence.
The events that since followed proved to be a nightmare for Sharif family, especially the then PM Sharif. In July 2017, the JIT submitted its damning report in the top court that categorically accused the Sharif family of foul play in Panamagate case.
On July 28 last year, a five-member bench handed an outright disqualification to Sharif from holding any public office. Resultantly, Sharif lost premiership and his National Assembly seat. In consequence of the court ruling, he also lost the president-ship of his party.
New PM and challenges to PML
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the then petroleum minister, was elevated as PM on August 1, 2017 on ‘interim’ basis. Alongside, the disqualified premier launched a public mobilisation campaign under the theme ‘Mujhe Kyun Nikala’ to question rationale behind his ouster started targeted judiciary and security brass.
Sharif’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, stepped up to lead the election campaign of her mother Kulsoom Nawaz at NA-120, the lower house’s seat that got vacated following Sharif’s disqualification. Kulsoom was diagnosed with a cancer and was in London for treatment where she is still being treated.
After announcing Shehbaz to be the next PM, the PML-N chief had a change of heart amidst reports that Kulsoom and Maryam were opposed to Shehbaz’s elevation as PM. Sharif finally arrived at the decision to allow Abbasi to continue as the premier till the completion of government’s tenure.
This is said to have not gone down well with Shehbaz. Reports of silent emergence of a Shehbaz League and other dissident factions started doing rounds. So serious became the internal tussle that Sharif had to reschedule his journey from London to Lahore more than once to avoid meeting Shehbaz.
To prevent further rift in the party, Sharif had to agree to Shehbaz elevation as PML-N president, after the apex court rejected his review petition and annulled the constitution amendment that had paved way for his heading his party despite disqualification.
PML-N’s failure to get its candidates elected as chairman and deputy chairman in the upper house polls despite being a majority party indicates that all is not well within PML-N. The party lawmakers are continually jumping ships – defections that PML-N claims are occasioned by ‘khalai makhlooq’, a derogatory name for the security establishment.
Dawn Leaks
The government-military tiff in connection with Dawn Leaks which surfaced in October 2016 escalated the hostility between PML-N government and security establishment. PM Sharif’s special assistant on foreign affairs Tariq Fatemi and principal information officer Rao Tehseen lost their official portfolios in the light of Dawn Leaks inquiry report recommendations following which the matter was ‘settled.’ Earlier, information minister Pervaiz Rashid also had to step down in connection with Dawn Leaks saga.
Khatm-e-Nabuwat clause debacle
Another major highlight of PML-N’s tenure was controversial change in Khatm-e-Nabuwwat declaration which earned mega public and political backlash. A newly formed religious party, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) staged a sit-in at Faizabad in November last year demanding resignation of law minister.
The sit-in continued for more than three weeks and ended up in a botched operation at Faizabad in which law enforcement agencies had to retreat. The countrywide protests then started erupting before the law minister Zahid Hamid resigned to stop the situation from aggravating further.
Despite multifaceted challenges and speculations about its premature end, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) federal government has finally completed its tenure.
However, the PML-N’s stint in power was never a smooth sailing. Since coming into power on June 1, 2013, the N-League took what many say was a collision course.
Since day one, the government seemed all inclined to take solo flight on given issues without engaging the key stakeholders. It was hostile to opposition parties, indifferent to parliament and unaccommodating to security establishment on matters of national security.
Rigging allegations, Lahore carnage and sit-in
The first major challenge that the PML-N government faced came in the shape of an allegation of rigging in the 2013 general polls, levelled by a political foe as formidable as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
With the end of PML-N's term, SBP's reserves stand at just $10.03b
Initially, it all started with the PTI demanding to launch a through probe into four seats of National Assembly where Imran Khan’s party smelled foul play.
The government’s adamant stance not to accept the opposition party’s demand aggravated the matter and finally ended in the infamous sit-in episode jointly launched by PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) in August 2014.
While Imran Khan’s party claimed to occupy Islamabad’s D Chowk in its quest of justice for ‘stolen mandate,’ Dr Tahirul Qadri jumped into the fray on the pretext of ‘avenging’ the killings of over a dozen PAT workers who were brutally killed in Model Town police operation in June 2014.
No place for turncoats in PML-N, says minister
More than four-month long dharna episode proved nothing less than a nightmare for the rulers but they finally remained ‘unharmed’ as both the PAT and the PTI had to eventually call off the protest.
The PML-N government blamed the protest on ‘hidden hands’ in an obvious reference to the security establishment, which, according to many, marked the beginning of the tension between security establishment and N-League’s government.
Panamagate scandal
In April 2016, Panama Papers rocked the globe and sent ripples across Pakistan’s socio-political arena as they unveil names of hundreds of Pakistanis including sons and daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who had secreted their assets in offshore havens.
The PTI and other opposition parties wanted the matter to be probed. The government at first agreed to form a commission to probe into the scandal but the ruling party and the opposition parties failed to develop consensus of the terms of reference (ToRs) of the commission. Later Khan and his party toughened up their stance demanding the then premier Sharif’s resignation.
PML-N to give tickets to new members for upcoming polls
Confident that nothing would come out of Panama Leaks, the government wrote a letter to the then chief justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali to form a judicial commission to investigate Panamagate but the CJP declined to entertain the request.
The matters between government and opposition kept getting from bad to worse and Khan threatened to lockdown the federal capital in November 2016. It was then that the Supreme Court decided to intervene and hear Panama Leaks case.
After weeks of proceedings, the CJP Jamali declared that the case would be heard afresh in the first week of January 2017. Jamali’s successor, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, started the case proceedings and formed a new bench.
After several hearings, the SC decided to form a six-member joint investigation team (JIT) to dig deeper into the corruption scandal. The JIT comprised of members of the Federal Investigation Agency, the State Bank of Pakistan, the National Accountability Bureau, the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan, the Inter-Services Intelligence and the Military Intelligence.
The events that since followed proved to be a nightmare for Sharif family, especially the then PM Sharif. In July 2017, the JIT submitted its damning report in the top court that categorically accused the Sharif family of foul play in Panamagate case.
On July 28 last year, a five-member bench handed an outright disqualification to Sharif from holding any public office. Resultantly, Sharif lost premiership and his National Assembly seat. In consequence of the court ruling, he also lost the president-ship of his party.
New PM and challenges to PML
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the then petroleum minister, was elevated as PM on August 1, 2017 on ‘interim’ basis. Alongside, the disqualified premier launched a public mobilisation campaign under the theme ‘Mujhe Kyun Nikala’ to question rationale behind his ouster started targeted judiciary and security brass.
Sharif’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, stepped up to lead the election campaign of her mother Kulsoom Nawaz at NA-120, the lower house’s seat that got vacated following Sharif’s disqualification. Kulsoom was diagnosed with a cancer and was in London for treatment where she is still being treated.
After announcing Shehbaz to be the next PM, the PML-N chief had a change of heart amidst reports that Kulsoom and Maryam were opposed to Shehbaz’s elevation as PM. Sharif finally arrived at the decision to allow Abbasi to continue as the premier till the completion of government’s tenure.
This is said to have not gone down well with Shehbaz. Reports of silent emergence of a Shehbaz League and other dissident factions started doing rounds. So serious became the internal tussle that Sharif had to reschedule his journey from London to Lahore more than once to avoid meeting Shehbaz.
To prevent further rift in the party, Sharif had to agree to Shehbaz elevation as PML-N president, after the apex court rejected his review petition and annulled the constitution amendment that had paved way for his heading his party despite disqualification.
PML-N’s failure to get its candidates elected as chairman and deputy chairman in the upper house polls despite being a majority party indicates that all is not well within PML-N. The party lawmakers are continually jumping ships – defections that PML-N claims are occasioned by ‘khalai makhlooq’, a derogatory name for the security establishment.
Dawn Leaks
The government-military tiff in connection with Dawn Leaks which surfaced in October 2016 escalated the hostility between PML-N government and security establishment. PM Sharif’s special assistant on foreign affairs Tariq Fatemi and principal information officer Rao Tehseen lost their official portfolios in the light of Dawn Leaks inquiry report recommendations following which the matter was ‘settled.’ Earlier, information minister Pervaiz Rashid also had to step down in connection with Dawn Leaks saga.
Khatm-e-Nabuwat clause debacle
Another major highlight of PML-N’s tenure was controversial change in Khatm-e-Nabuwwat declaration which earned mega public and political backlash. A newly formed religious party, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) staged a sit-in at Faizabad in November last year demanding resignation of law minister.
The sit-in continued for more than three weeks and ended up in a botched operation at Faizabad in which law enforcement agencies had to retreat. The countrywide protests then started erupting before the law minister Zahid Hamid resigned to stop the situation from aggravating further.