Resigned as party VP to give Maryam 'space', says Abbasi

Senior PML-N leader says serious differences could have emerged if he continued in his previous party position

ISLAMABAD:

Former premier and senior Pakistan Mulsim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Friday confirmed that he has resigned as party senior vice president because of Maryam Nawaz.

Party supremo Nawaz Sharif's daughter Maryam was promoted to the position of party's senior vice president in January - a position she would have shared together with Abbasi upon her return to Pakistan after three months' absence.

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However, the senior politician tendered his resignation from the post, although he remains a member of the party.

Speaking to journalists outside the parliament today, Abbasi said that he has resigned as senior VP of the party because "Maryam has become a senior leader," adding that "she needs space".

"If I would have been there then differences could have emerged," he explained.

As the party's chief organiser, Maryam has been tasked with the "restructuring" and "reorganisation" of the party at "all levels", but with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) having given a deadline to the PML-N to conduct intra-party elections till March 14, tensions are brewing within the party.

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The disagreements seem to be particularly stark around Maryam's promotion, the finance minister's seat and the government's economic policies.

In her first speech after her return, Maryam had assured the nation that she and her father were fully cognizant of the inflationary storm while laying the blame for the crises at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s door.

In the meantime at a different event just a week prior to her speech, Abbasi had called for an end to the politics of maligning each other and urged all political forces to put their heads together to bring the country out of the prevailing economic crisis.

“When politics turns into enmity, people’s problems remain. It is unfortunate that the economic crisis and failure of politics has reached its peak,” he had said stressing the need for governments to actually perform.