Post governorship: PML-N’s boat in rough waters as internal differences emerge

Party workers divided between camps of Amir Muqam and Rehmat Salam Khattak.

SHABQADAR:

Recent developments show that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is mired with in-house politicking in the province, especially with regards to the party’s affairs in the tribal areas.

After rejoining the party in 2011, Amir Muqam was made the central vice president and was given the task to organise the party in Malakand and the tribal areas.

For this purpose, Muqam was appointed as the party’s coordinator for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and he succeeded in bringing big names in the PML-N’s fold. When Nawaz Sharif formed the government in the centre after winning the elections, it was believed that Muqam would be appointed as the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) governor but he was instead made an adviser to the prime minister.

After assuming charge as the K-P governor, PML-N leader Sardar Mehtab Abbasi began visiting the tribal areas and is working on several reform packages for the region. Before this, the PML-N had little or no political activity in Fata as the previous governor was a Pakistan Peoples Party appointee, but following Abbasi’s interest in the tribal areas, various factions of the party are vying to prove their loyalty to the governor so as to earn his ‘blessing’.

This race has divided the party in two groups, especially in Fata. One side comprises those who joined the party with Muqam while the other consists of the old guard who stuck with the party through thick and thin.

A worker of the old guard in Fata, Said Wali Shah, told The Express Tribune he has been the party’s information secretary for Fata since 1999.

He said his group was acceptable to the party’s K-P chapter and when the governor invited them to Peshawar for consultations recently, Muqam’s group started blaming the party’s provincial leadership, including the governor and PML-N’s provincial general secretary Rehmat Salam Khattak, of sidelining them.

Shah said they had conveyed their reservations to the party leadership after Muqam verbally appointed Faqeer Muhammad as the party’s Fata president. He said their group has substantial presence in Fata which is what led to the PML-N winning three National Assembly seats from the tribal areas and should thus have been consulted before Faqeer’s appointment.

However, PML-N MNA from Bajaur Agency, Shahabuddin Khan, does not agree with Shah’s statement and said Muqam was appointed the Fata coordinator by the premier.

He also expressed reservations over the recent meeting of PML-N’s workers of Fata with the governor on Khattak’s advice. He said the party’s office bearers in K-P should focus on the province instead of interfering in Fata.

Khan said those who call themselves PML-N’s ideological workers cannot even win a union council seat, adding it was Muqam’s hard work that brought home the three National Assembly seats from Fata. He said it is time to make the party strong instead of wasting time on internal disputes.

When contacted, Faqeer said Muqam had a meeting with party workers on Thursday and they will also meet with the governor to end the crisis.

He also sang praises for Muqam and said Khattak’s policies will destroy the party in the tribal areas. He said in case the differences are not settled, they will convene a jirga to decide a future course of action.

Political analyst Fida Muhammad said differences always existed in PML-N but ever since the party appointed its own governor, both sides want to get the biggest slice of the pie and are thus embroiled in an internal power tussle.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2014.