The dark horse

Sardar Usman Ahmad Khan Buzdar of Dera Ghazi Khan has been nominated for the key role of the Chief Minister of Punjab

Much to the surprise of all, Sardar Usman Ahmad Khan Buzdar from Dera Ghazi Khan has been nominated for the key role of the Chief Minister of Punjab. The decision even surprised many of the senior PTI leaders, close to Imran Khan, who are on record to have quoted their party chief as saying that only a stalwart will take the helm of the country’s biggest and most important province. That a weak man is picked up for a strong job is the general perception.

For reasons too many, the decision instantly became a subject of debate and argument, thus becoming controversial. Buzdar is from among the new entrants in the party, and for those all-time loyalists who stood by the party chief in his bad times and during protests and sit-ins, his nomination for the prized seat is difficult to stomach. That Buzdar comes from the Jahangir Tareen bloc — and does not look like a unanimous choice — is bound to intensify the infighting with the Shah Mehmood Qureshi bloc. Buzdar’s affiliation with the PML-Q during Gen Pervez Musharraf’s rule in the country is understood to draw Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, the Speaker, within close proximity with the CM. Thus, the party’s Punjab chapter is in for a three-way tussle.

More so, while Prime Minister Imran Khan calls Buzdar a perfect choice and sticks to his decision, breaking news reports suggest that the Punjab CM nominee may not be as clean as his party chief thinks. Reportedly, about two decades ago, Buzdar — along with his father and a brother — was nominated in the FIR of a case that featured the murder of six people. Buzdar could only settle the case by paying blood money to the victim’s family. With the deadline for filing nomination papers for the election now gone, Buzdar is the final PTI candidate for the post of Punjab CM and is all set to win the election too. The die is cast.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2018.

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