Opposition panel: PML-N manifesto makers in rare huddle

“Yes, we are going to meet on September 28 and of course it is part of our preparations for elections,” Sartaj Aziz.

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is holding an “unusual” meeting of its manifesto committee next week for the first time since 2008 parliamentary polls – political observers see this as a tangible sign of party’s plan to seek snap polls. “Yes, we are going to meet on September 28…and of course it is part of our preparations for elections,” said Sartaj Aziz, a senior party leader who heads the panel and is likely to take over as PML-N secretary general in a couple of months. Sartaj was, however, quick to dispel the impression that by redrafting the manifesto the party was preparing to call for early elections.“Anything is possible…we might get ready for anything,” was the terse reply of PML-N Information Secretary Senator Mushahidullah Khan when asked whether the meeting was part of the party’s strategy to prepare itself for polls.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th,  2011.