Nawaz appears taking back party reins
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif appears to have started taking party reins in his hands after party president -- his younger brother Mian Shehbaz Sharif – refused to follow his instructions, sources in the party told The Express Tribune.
The sources said the three-time former prime minister did not take the matter lightly and a wider gulf between the Sharif brothers is ominous to all and sundry.
To go by media reports, Nawaz had directed the party leadership to do “aggressive” politics after Muharram and convene a multi-party conference (MPC) of the opposition at the earliest for this purpose.
The younger brother has not come up with any party position on the issue.
According to a party source, Nawaz contacted Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday and agreed to work together for the betterment of the country.
However, the party leadership has been trying to keep the development under the carpet and not willing to make it public.
Nawaz, who has been in London for his medical treatment since November, assured Bilawal of his party's support against any unconstitutional move of the PTI government regarding Sindh. Both leaders also agreed to call an All Parties Conference at the earliest.
Meanwhile, a PML-N source said JUI-F leader Maulana Amjad revealed that Nawaz had also contacted JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to address his concerns regarding the party’s role in supporting legislation related to the FATF and discuss the political situation.
According to the sources in both parties, the Maulana expressed his strongest concerns over the policies being followed the PML-N under the leadership of Shehbaz.
It was revealed that the PML-N supremo patiently heard the Maulana’s concerns and assured that his party would soon contact him to mitigate his reservations.
Maulana Amjad said that Nawaz's assurance was a positive sign and showed that the PML-N supremo stood by his earlier commitments made with the JUI-F.
However, he said since Sunday, they were waiting for local PML-N leadership to contact the JUI-F to do away with the concerns and to chalk out a future strategy.
He said that to his knowledge, no PML-N leader has contacted the JUI-F leadership up till now. He said the recent statements coming from the PPP reflected that JUI-F was not the only party having concerns about PML-N’s current policy line.
Under the existing circumstances, he said he does not see the Rehber Committee meeting happening before the first two weeks of Muharram.
He said that given the assurance from Nawaz, they were hopping to launch a joint movement against the “incompetent government” soon.
Amjad said that nothing was absolute in politics as things can change any time.
A prominent PML-N leader had revealed that it seems Nawaz was dissatisfied with the leadership of Shehbaz and the recent contact with Maulana Fazl and Bilawal showed his disappointment with his brother, who did not follow the instructions given to him.