Out of hibernation

Maryam Nawaz has come out of political hibernation – after nearly six months. The Sharif family scion on Thursday visited the residences of senior PML-N leaders Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Ahsan Iqbal to felicitate them over their release from jail. That turned out to be Maryam’s first public appearance since August 2019 when she was arrested in a corruption case concerning Chaudhry Sugar Mills. She was released on bail on November 4, but maintained a low profile. Her Twitter handle, which would hardly spare an opportunity to target the ruling PTI and Prime Minister Imran Khan, remained silent too, giving rise to speculations that she had been quiet in line with some kind of political understanding with the powers that be.

What triggered the young PML-N leader to suddenly break her half-a-year long silence has been a subject of political debate in the country even though the growing coronavirus scare has left little space on the media to discuss anything else. Maryam’s sudden appearance is most likely aimed at addressing a very vocal dissent within the PML-N against the top leadership. With Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif out of the country and Hamza Shehbaz languishing behind bars, Maryam’s self-imposed restrictions meant that the party has nobody at the helm and that a leadership crisis can risk desertion from the party.

Many an analyst, however, believe that Maryam’s re-emergence on the political scene is just a pressure tactic meant to clear the obstacles to her leaving for London to join her father. And, Maryam’s admiration of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanullah and Saad Rafique and her assertion that “Mian Nawaz Sharif must have been happy” with the way they “courageously underwent incarceration” may well be a message for party workers to know which leaders within the party actually enjoy the backing of Nawaz Sharif and represent the party’s official narrative.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2020.

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