Political wheeling and dealing: PML-N looks to profit from discord in rival parties

ISLAMABAD:

Mindful of its comparatively weaker position in the provinces of Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is reaching out to disgruntled politicians and breakaway factions of other political parties in these provinces.

The PML-N’s second tier leadership has been assigned to negotiate with such factions and nationalist parties in the smaller provinces, irrespective of their ideologies and political views.

In Punjab, negotiations are already under way with dissidents in the Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain-led PML-Q, including the Likeminded Group of Salim Saifullah Khan and Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, who had parted ways with the Q-League to form his own Awami Muslim League.

The PML-N has also contacted Maulana Asmatullah, a lawmaker from Balochistan who had formed his own ‘Ideological Group’ after developing differences with the leadership of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazlur Rehman) during the 2008 elections.

Maulana Asmatullah’s JUI Ideological Group has a large following in the Pashtun-dominated areas of Balochistan because of its strong anti-US policy. He had earlier defeated Maulana Sherani, chief of the Balochistan chapter of JUI-F, for the National Assembly seat. His group had also won a few seats in the Balochistan Assembly.

However, the JUI-F managed to get Maulana Sherani elected as senator – and subsequently he was appointed head of the Council of Islamic Ideology with the status of federal minister.

“Yes, we met with Maulana Asmatullah. We will discuss details of this meeting with Mian Sahib (Nawaz Sharif) after he returns (from Turkey)” Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, who led the PML-N delegation that met with the Maulana a week back, told The Express Tribune.

Sources say that the PML-N has assigned its second tier leaders to approach smaller parties and groups. Sanaullah Zehri has been tasked to woo the disgruntled Baloch nationalist groups while Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Abdul Qadir Baloch, Mushahidullah Khan and Tehmina Daultana are pursuing groups like JUI-Ideological and PML-Q dissents in Balochistan, sources add.

While speaking to The Express Tribune, Jhagra did not rule out an alliance with the JUI-Ideological but said that the authority to make the final decision rests with Nawaz Sharif. “We visited Balochistan primarily to offer condolences on the massacre of members of the Hazara community. These meetings (with the JUI-Ideological chief) took place on the sidelines. I think, we will be visiting Balochistan again by mid- November for detailed meetings,” he said.

In Balochistan, Sanaullah Zehri and others have been wooing the nationalist parties, among them former chief minister Sardar Akhtar Mengal’s Balochistan National Party. The PML-N is trying to win over Jam Yousaf, a former provincial chief minister from the PML-Q who has distanced himself from Chaudhry Shujaat and his party.

In order to make inroads in Sindh, the power bastion of rival PPP, Nawaz Sharif, toured the province several times and tasked former National Assembly speaker Elahi Bux Soomro and Syed Ghous Ali Shah to woo smaller political groups and politically influential families in different districts.

“Soomro has not only joined us but he has been made a member of the central council. He is now working on reorganising the party. Ali Buksh Mehar has now joined us. Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Sherazi family are likely to join” a PML-N leader told The Express Tribune.

PML-N’s deputy secretary general Ahsan Iqbal claimed that a number of “big guns” would be joining his party in Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in the coming weeks. “We are not making these announcements right now. The reason is, we want to avoid victimisation of these people by the PPP in Sindh. We have gained significantly in Sindh, especially interior,” he added.

Iqbal said that in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Fareed Toofan, a former ANP heavyweight, has joined the PML-N. Asked about the possibility of PML-Q’s Engineer Amir Muqam joining his party, Iqbal said though they were in contact with him he was undecided. He added that Sharif would be visiting K-P and Balochistan in the coming days.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st,  2011.