PML-N: The party misses several deadlines
Over a year later there has not been much progress in the PML-N structure.
ISLAMABAD:
PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had dissolved all the structures of his party in September 2009 with an announcement that they would be reorganised through intra-party elections within six months.
But a little over a year down the line there has not been much progress and the party seems miles away from what it was supposed to accomplish by March this year.
At least three deadlines for electing new office-bearers for the party’s local, provincial and national organizations — of March 23, August 14 and September 30 — have so far been missed this year alone.
Though top PML-N leaders attribute missing the latest deadline to the recent
floods, some officials say there is much more hindering efforts to give the group a new look.
And a fear of further delay is keeping the party from announcing another cut-off date, though Sharif has asked an inner circle of his close associates to complete the process, at least at the provincial level, by the end of next month (November).
“This is the tentative date we have in mind. If all other things remain smooth we can roll ahead the process at least at the provincial level,” said a party leader from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
PML-N officials in Lahore say Sharif is set to replace his brother as the party’s president, a formal slot that will give him more authority over the group’s affairs.
Currently, Sharif is a ceremonial head and his younger brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif holds the formal position of the president.
Though the PML-N leadership rejects having any such restrictions on the elder Sharif, it has time and again been reported he was bound to refrain from ‘formal’ politics for at least a decade under an agreement with former president Pervez Musharraf.
The term of the agreement backed by Saudi royals is set to expire in December this year, a timeframe after which Sharif will be free to seek a formal political position.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2010.
PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had dissolved all the structures of his party in September 2009 with an announcement that they would be reorganised through intra-party elections within six months.
But a little over a year down the line there has not been much progress and the party seems miles away from what it was supposed to accomplish by March this year.
At least three deadlines for electing new office-bearers for the party’s local, provincial and national organizations — of March 23, August 14 and September 30 — have so far been missed this year alone.
Though top PML-N leaders attribute missing the latest deadline to the recent
floods, some officials say there is much more hindering efforts to give the group a new look.
And a fear of further delay is keeping the party from announcing another cut-off date, though Sharif has asked an inner circle of his close associates to complete the process, at least at the provincial level, by the end of next month (November).
“This is the tentative date we have in mind. If all other things remain smooth we can roll ahead the process at least at the provincial level,” said a party leader from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
PML-N officials in Lahore say Sharif is set to replace his brother as the party’s president, a formal slot that will give him more authority over the group’s affairs.
Currently, Sharif is a ceremonial head and his younger brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif holds the formal position of the president.
Though the PML-N leadership rejects having any such restrictions on the elder Sharif, it has time and again been reported he was bound to refrain from ‘formal’ politics for at least a decade under an agreement with former president Pervez Musharraf.
The term of the agreement backed by Saudi royals is set to expire in December this year, a timeframe after which Sharif will be free to seek a formal political position.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2010.