Is PML-N backtracking from its narrative?

A senior leader says slogan ‘vote ko izzat do’ has only brought hardships for the party

LAHORE: Differences within the party ranks have started to surface after the PML-N announced its “unconditional” support for the passage of services chiefs’ bills.

Several PML-N leaders are of the view that the party had to pledge its support for the bills as its voters were not strong enough to put their strength behind the party.

Commenting on the PML-N slogan “vote ko izzat do” (give respect to vote), a senior partly leader said that the narrative had only brought hardships for the Nawaz league.

He claimed the voters of Nawaz-league were not as mature as were those in Turkey and were not ready to put up fight with powerful elite.

He opined that the PML-N should leave the fight for supremacy of vote for some other day as the party had already paid a heavy price for towing the line of its chief Nawaz Sharif.

Senior PML-N leader Khawaja Asif in a TV interview held similar views. He said that the voters of Nawaz-league were not mature enough to put up a fight for party’s narrative.

He said in India people had come out in large numbers to protest against the citizenship law but in Pakistan the supporters settled on tweeting instead of coming out on roads.

Asif lamented that the party diehards had not turned up in numbers in the GT Road rally as was expected by the leadership.

“Not even 100 people showed up at any given day when Mian Nawa Sharif was in hospital,” he said.

In contrast to Asif’s statement, PML-N MNA Javeed Latif said that Nawaz and Maryam had not been taken into confidence before the announcement of support on the services chiefs matter.

Providing credence to Latif’s claim was the twitter activity of Maryam Nawaz on January 7.

Referring to her father, Maryam stated that a person who had stood for the sanctity of vote and faced hardships could never be defeated.

Another well-placed party source in the PML-N said that it was an open secret that Maryam and Shahbaz did not go along well and had differences in approach.

As it is a well-known fact that Maryam has always been vocal even about the most trivial issues in the party, while Shehbaz prefers silence, the party vice-president had to keep mum over her father’s illness, as part of an understanding.

The source said that Maryam contacted her father in London to voice her concern when Rana Sanaullah announced “unconditional” support of the party for the passage of bill.