By-polls in Multan: PML-N to back Hashmi for NA-149

Ruling party’s parliamentary board forms committees to help ex-PTI president win back vacant seat

ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI:

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided in principle to not only support Javed Hashmi as a candidate for by-elections in NA-149 Multan-II, but also campaign on his behalf in the constituency, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The decision to back the sacked president of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was taken at a meeting of the PML-N’s parliamentary board, chaired by Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, on Monday.

Participants of the meeting revealed that the board has formed three committees to help Hashmi conduct and meet the financial requirements of his campaign in NA-149.

The committees, which comprise Punjab Prisons Minister Abdul Waheed Arain, members of the Punjab Public Affairs Unit headed by Mian Saud Majeed, Senator Rafique Rajwana and ex-lawmakers Rana Mehmood and Sheikh Tariq, will leave for Multan immediately and remain there till results for the by-polls are announced, they said.

Once in Multan, the committees will immediately start campaigning for Hashmi and organise public gatherings for the ex-PTI leader to address, the meeting participants said. They added that the committees will also try to convince other parties to back Hashmi as a ‘champion of democracy’.

In the meantime, Hamza Shahbaz will secretly contact PML-N workers angry at Hashmi and try to persuade them to back the former PTI president as a candidate for one of Multan’s National Assembly seats, the meeting participants said.

Both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari want to see Hashmi as an independent member of parliament at any cost, participants of the PML-N parliamentary board meeting quoted Hamza Shahbaz as saying. They said Hamza told them that both PML-N and PPP are willing to award Hashmi the title of the ‘Champion and Saviour of Democracy’ in parliament, they said.

Although PPP has nominated Javed Siddiqui for by-polls in NA-149, the PML-N leadership believes Zardari will ask the candidate to announce his support for Hashmi at the eleventh hour, according to sources.

PPP’s strategy for NA-149 vis-à-vis Hashmi came under discussion at a meeting of the party’s central executive committee (CEC) held in Karachi on Monday, sources said.

“While briefing the meeting on PPP’s strategy for NA-149, Yousaf Raza Gilani told participants that Javed Siddiqui was a weak candidate and was nominated only to keep potential PPP voters from swinging towards a PTI-backed candidate,” one source said. He added that the PPP leadership in turn asked Gilani to prepare a strategy to ensure Hashmi wins back his seat.

However, at a news conference held right after the CEC meeting, PPP leaders, including Gilani, denied they had decided to withdraw their candidate in favour of Hashmi.

“We have nominated Dr Javed Siddiqui on the recommendation of our chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari… he will contest the polls [NA-149],” Gilani said.

When contacted, PPP Information Secretary Shaukat Basra said that although the party has nominated Siddiqui its candidate for NA-149, Gilani will take a final decision on the matter.

Hashmi’s main rival for the vacant seat is estranged PPP leader Aamir Dogar, who is also contesting the by-polls as an independent candidate.

According to a member of the PML-N parliamentary board, the ruling party believes Dogar has been promised ‘secret support’ by PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi. “Although PTI has boycotted by-polls for NA-149, the prevailing perception in the constituency the party’s leadership has deliberately created reflects their support for Dogar,” he said.

Talking to The Express Tribune, PML-N Information Secretary Mushahidullah Khan said they decided against fielding a candidate against Hashmi keeping in mind the ex-PTI leader’s ‘longstanding commitment to democracy’.

Hashmi contested and won the seat for NA-149 on a PTI ticket in last year’s general elections. The seat fell vacant, however, after the former PTI president was sacked by his party after developing differences with the leadership.

By-elections for NA-149 have been scheduled for October 16. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2014.