Beleaguered by NAB and coronavirus, PML-N carries on

More than 25 members of the opposition party have tested positive for Covid-19

LAHORE: As the novel coronavirus pandemic rages on, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is finding itself stuck between a rock and a hard place.

On one hand, the party appears beleaguered as prominent leaders find themselves back in the National Accountability Bureau’s crosshairs. On the other, there is the virus itself.

No party is immune to Covid-19 for sure, but more cases have popped up from PML-N than any other political faction. More than 25 of PML-N’s central and provincial leaders, including its head honcho, have fallen victim to the contagion. Two of the party’s members – MPA Shaukat Manzoor Cheema and Rawalpindi Information Secretary Akmal Mirza – have even lost their lives to the virus.

Some, like Amir Muqam and Ataullah Tarar, have recovered and can count themselves lucky. But many other prominent PML-N figures, from central president and NA opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif to secretary general Ahsan Iqbal, spokesperson Maryam Aurangzeb, former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former NA speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, remain infected and have been forced to isolate themselves.

Former cabinet members Saira Afzal Tarar and Tariq Fazl Chaudhry, ex-senator Nihal Hashmi and MNAs Imran Shah and Tahira Aurangzeb are also currently battling the virus, as are provincial leaders Salman Rafique, Saiful Muluk Khokhar, Rana Iqbal, Mian Naveed Ali and Ansar Majeed Khan.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, sources in PML-N claimed that one reason that could explain why the party had more Covid-19 cases was because it was more proactive in distributing rations and supplies during lockdown.

They also criticised the NAB move to summon senior leaders, saying it had exposed them to the highly contagious virus.  Sharif’s wife Tehmina Durrani is among those who made this allegation. In a Twitter post, she said the NAB action not only exposed the PML-N chief to Covid-19 but her as well. “Punjab’s ‘life long’ Khadim e Aaala’s (intentional) exposure 2 huge crowds at NAB & court, obviously infected him with Covid 19. Yesterday I too tested positive. I wept, NOT 4 us, but 4 the majority of r people who can neither afford the test nor the protocol! I pray ONLY4 them!” the tweet read.

PML-N leader Uzma Bukhari too endorsed the view that NAB actions had led to PML-N leaders catching the coronavirus. “Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Maryam Aurangzeb, Ahsan Iqbal and Tariq Fazal Chaudhry were all present in the high court with Shehbaz Sharif during his bail hearing. Today, all five of them are quarantined at home after catching Covid-19,” she said.

Bukhari also claimed that Saira Afzal Tarar and Salman Rafique caught the virus while distributing Covid-19 kits and masks to doctors and paramedics. “Our party is affected because of its sincerity,” she insisted.

Sources in the government, however, insisted that all precautions were taken when the PML-N leaders were summoned in court. They implied the party’s leadership contracted the coronavirus because they paid more attention to ‘political point-scoring than safety’.

“Covid-19 does not care what your caste, religion or political affiliation is,” said Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hasan Chohan. “Our sympathies and prayers are for everyone, opposition or not.”

Chohan insisted the PTI had done its fair share of public service amid the pandemic as well, saying “it is wrong to say only the opposition served the people.” He added that the government will not allow ‘political point-scoring’ over Covid-19.

“We pray that PML-N leaders recover quickly so that they can face accountability,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2020.