Nawaz to break his silence ‘at right time’

PML-N leaders suggest Shehbaz stabilise economy first and call snap polls

LAHORE:

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif, who has been keeping a low profile away from the public eye, will break his silence on diverse issues once the party enters election mode, according some party leaders.

They say that Nawaz, who reassumed the party presidency in May this year, was expected to tell the nation how he and his party were not beneficiaries but rather the affected side in both the PML-N led setups.

Though, a former spokesperson for the PML-N chief is of the view that Nawaz does not have the room anymore to play the ‘victim card’. For that, he states the PML-N will have to sit on the opposition benches and face the music of its rivals in the government to be eligible to use the victim cards.

Nawaz is expected to reorganise the party, hold rallies and build a political narrative to regain the political space that the party had lost to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in its stronghold of Punjab.

Every few weeks, a news lands in the prime-time bulletins that Nawaz will start touring different provinces, holding rallies and actively engage with the people. The most recent reports describe PML-N as planning rallies for Nawaz after Ashura.

Senior PML-N leader Javeed Latif has on a number of occasions asked Nawaz to break his silence and tell the nation the bitter truth. However, a senior party office-bearer told The Express Tribune over the weekend that Nawaz would not break the silence at this stage, because it would only create problems for his party’s government.

He said that the public addresses or media talks would compel him to take a position on the decisions taken by the current government. Taking a position would mean nailing his colours to mast, which he did not want.

In his view, Nawaz speaking his mind would create all sorts of problems for the government of his brother Shehbaz Sharif. He confided that neither the present one, nor the previous setup led by the PML-N were organic.

His analysis echoes the comments attributed to Javed Latif that there are bitter realities that many know but don’t talk about. The reality, the PML-N office-bearer said, is that Mian Nawaz Sharif and his party were not the beneficiaries, rather victims of those setups.

He revealed that there were many in the party who held the view that the PML-N should work on the economy on war footings, and the moment it managed to bring some semblance of economic stability, it should move towards snap polls.

“Even if this move means sitting in the opposition benches, conversely,” he added.

Continuing with this setup will take away the wind from PML-N’s sails.” He warned that the PML-N was fast losing its politics space to rising electricity bills, which was turning even its staunchest supporters against it.

PML-N Information Secretary and also Senior Punjab Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb was approached multiple times to seek the party’s official position, but she was not available for comments.

Also, there is no official spokesperson for party President from whom any clarification could be sought. The only information regarding what Mian Nawaz Sharif is or must be thinking on any issues comes via Irfan Saddique or Rana Sanaullah.

Former Sindh governor Zubair, who previously served as a spokesperson for Nawaz, said that the PML-N did not have the room to employ victim card, especially after enjoying two straight terms in the government.

He said that the only way out for the PML-N was to perform, without that, he added, its political survival would be at stake.

He continued that Nawaz did not have much options before him if he speaks, either he can criticise his own government or endorse its actions. “He must be mindful of the adverse effects of both those options.”

The third permutation is to speak when the time is right. However he said that even then the PML-N would not have much room to get out of the mess they have got themselves into.

He said that reason for not having any spokesperson for the PML-N chief seemed to be to keep away from the public eye. Irfan Saddique, he said was not a spokesperson.