PML-N plays down exit of ‘two persons’

Both leaders criticised PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif for his remarks against the military leadership

ISLAMABAD:

The central leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) sought to play down on Saturday the departure of two top party leaders in Balochistan, insisting that the party’s structure in the province was intact and the resignation of two people would not cause any impact.
PML-N’s Senior Vice President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal said in their separate statements that Abdul Qadir Baloch and Sanaullah Zehri quit the party because they were not given seats on stage during Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) rally in Quetta last month.
“The current movement of the PML-N is bigger than the chair of a single Nawab or Sardar on the stage. This is the movement for the supremacy of the Constitution, the unity of the PDM in Pakistan,” Iqbal said.
And in a direct attack on Zehri, he added, “It is his personal judgement, narrow-mindedness, stubbornness and personal ego, if he does not get a chair on stage. The PML-N will not be affected by such behaviour.”
Abbasi’s statement also carried a similar tone. “By resigning from the party Baloch destroyed his own politics. He and I both know the truth,” the former prime minister said. “Making the things personal is a failure of Baloch’s own politics.”
The statement came after the resignations of Lt Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch, the president of the PML-N Balochistan, last week, and the announcement of the resignation from former chief minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri on Saturday.
At a gathering, both the leaders criticised PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif for his remarks against the military leadership. They also accused the party leaders of betrayal on key issues concerning Balochistan on “countless occasions”.
Iqbal said that the PML-N Balochistan’s organisational structure was fully in place. “With the departure of two persons there will be no organisational loss there,” he said, adding that Zehri had also been “inactive” for the last two years.
“Zehri was embarrassed because he could not defend his provincial government,” Iqbal said, referring to his resignation after filing of no-confidence motion against him in January 2018. During his tenure, Iqbal added, the PML-N’s provincial government collapsed.
“The party had reprimanded him [Zehri for the fall of the provincial government]. The party had asked why Zehri could not run the provincial government successfully. Zehri was so embarrassed that he had not attended any party meeting in two and a half years,” he added.
Abbasi termed the statement of Baloch regrettable. “Abdul Qadir Baloch’s statement is unfortunate; I did not expect this from him,” he said. “The party he stayed in, the one who gave him honour, today he could not maintain that honour. it is the most unfortunate.” he said.
“There are different paths in politics but the narrative they are adopting now was never mentioned to me or any other party leader. Abdul Qadir Baloch has been talking to me personally, he never spoke to me about it. If he did not agree, he could have spoken about it within the party.”
According to Abbasi, whole Pakistan agreed with Nawaz Sharif’s statement that the country should be run in accordance with the law and the Constitution. “His remarks support the PDM’s narrative. Those who were not in our ranks [left us] do not want the supremacy of the Constitution.”