PML-N to support new provinces

Think tank also stops Shahbaz Sharif from addressing any Go Zardari Go rally.

LAHORE:

The Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) decided on Wednesday that it would support legislation for new provinces.

Another important decision taken was that chief minister Shahbaz Sharif would not address any public gatherings held in connection with PML-N’s Go Zardari Go movement.

The decisions were among the many taken on Wednesday by the party while devising a strategy to win public support and to make the PML-N rally in Faisalabad on November 20 a success.

Shahbaz was ruled out as a speaker following PML-N’s November 28 rally in Lahore. “It damaged the party’s graph”, said a PML-N MNA, who requested anonymity. The source said that the people who had advised Shahbaz to hold a rally in Lahore before Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) have been sidelined by party leaders. “Shahbaz has been asked to pay attention to the affairs of the Punjab government,” he said.

The Faisalabad rally will be held at Dhobi Ghat. The ground was recently Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s choice of venue for a rally.

The party think tank also added a fourth point for Nawaz Sharif’s speech in Faisalabad: the collapse of state run institutions. The Go Zardari Go movement was launched with a focus on three issues: corruption, inflation and load shedding.

PML-N’s central joint secretary, Khurram Dastgir Khan, said that the fourth point will be incorporated in the movement agenda too.

The party also decided to tailor Nawaz’s speeches according to where he speaks. Nawaz will follow the Faisalabad agenda in Gujranwala, scheduled for November 25. When he visits South Punjab, he will focus on the scarcity of urea in Multan and Bahawalpur divisions.

Nawaz’s speech in Rawalpindi will be anti-establishment. In Hazara, the demand for a separate province will be supported by the PML-N and the speech will include of an anti-US rant.

A decision about what Nawaz should say when he goes to Balochistan has been put off for now.

PML-N does not want another embarrassment after the October 28 rally, said the party member. The party wants both grounds at Dhobi Ghat filled with people. Imran Khan was successful in filling both grounds. Workers in Faisalabad have been asked to ensure the presence of 150,000 people.

The party member said that the party had not taken any decision about en-masse resignations or a long march plan. “All that will be decided after seeing which way the public sentiment sways,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2011.