Game of groans: PML-N workers feeling sidelined by K-P leadership

Irked activists demand intervention from PML-N chief and premier Nawaz Sharif.

PESHAWAR:

Cracks have begun to appear within Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) ranks in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) as party activists claim to have been neglected by the provincial leadership.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Provincial Members Council (PMC) member Zahid Faqir said the party’s provincial leadership has failed to convene even a single PMC meeting in the last three years. He claimed all the 360 council members have appealed to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to intervene, but to no avail.

Faqir said the party’s central leadership had promised opportunities for party workers but a year-and-a-half has gone by and the K-P governor has forgotten the party’s “ideological workers” completely.

“I have given 25 years of blood and sweat to this party. Today, even the doors of Governor House are closed for me,” Faqir lamented. He alleged PML-N K-P General Secretary Rahmat Salam Khattak has shifted the party’s provincial office to Governor House.

Speaking of other disgruntled leaders, Faqir said Fakhar Hayat Malik belongs to an influential political family of Upper Dir. He secured more than 7,000 votes in the 2013 general elections and his contribution towards the party is immense. “Malik’s sacrifices have been brushed aside,” he said.

When approached for a comment, Fakhar Hayat said he has burnt all bridges and will soon jump ship. He said there is no need to submit a written resignation since PML-N is a disorganised party and that he will soon join hands with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

“The central and provincial leadership has left me with no option but to resign,” he maintained.

PML-N K-P General Secretary Rahmat Salam Khattak told The Express Tribune he is aware of Hayat’s resignation and will try to convince him to come back into the party’s fold. Khattak, however, denied the allegation of moving his office to Governor House. “I am a party official not an office secretary,” he said. Khattak said the concerns of disgruntled workers will soon be addressed and that a difference of opinion is commonplace in large democratic parties.

Meanwhile, 30 PML-N workers from Charsadda district held a joint news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Friday and censured party policies.

On the other hand, in a bid to clamp down upon the growing discontent among party activists, Adviser to PM Amir Muqam suspended the membership of several PML-N leaders from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), including Wali Shah Afridi, Haji Badshah Afridi, Haji Zar Khan Safi, Nazruddin and Abdul Karim Abid, and announced to issue show-cause notices to them.

PML-N K-P supremo Pir Sabir Shah was not available for a comment despite repeated attempts.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2015.