ISLAMABAD: The lingering strains and tensions within the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have started coming out in the open with a bang, creating an embarrassing situation for the ruling party. As the forthcoming local elections draw near, the internal tussle will surface in different districts as every group wants control over the principal local councils. But before that there is another point. Some federal ministers are at odds with each other and have started openly airing their sentiments against each other. It presents the spectacle of a house divided. Apart from being a turf war, it is also more of a personality clash. Ironically, the party forum has not been utilised to sort out the differences among various ministers and blocs. The conflicts have been allowed to simmer and persist. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif alone can force a patch-up between those in the angry lot. Information Minister Senator Pervez Rashid says any dissimilarity of views has in no way adversely impacted the official work and the cabinet speaks with one voice on national issues.Another cabinet member commented that in a large party like the PML-N, voicing of different opinions is not unusual and it is a healthy tradition in a democratic entity. The latest most awkward situation, confined to Faisalabad, has been fueled for the second time by Chaudhry Sher Ali, father of Minister of State for Water & Power Abid Sher Ali—a close relative of the Sharif brothers. His favourite target was as usual Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and the spat revolved round the next mayor of the Faisalabad municipal corporation. In a fit of fury, Chaudhry Sher Ali attacked the minister, also from Faisalabad, as well as Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif in his typical threatening tone. However, Rana Sanaullah’s response said it all. Chaudhry Sher Ali wants his other son to be the Faisalabad mayor. “Tickets for the local elections have been given on the recommendations of the federal and provincial legislators of Faisalabad,” he said. “The whole tussle will instantly go if the younger Sher is nominated as the mayor.” Chaudhry Sher Ali doesn’t deny that he wants his son to be the next mayor. He considers himself the sole driving force in Faisalabad behind popularising the PML-N, and he also articulates it loudly. Abid fully shares the stand of his father, known for his aggression. The clash between Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Defence Minister Khawaja M Asif has been an open secret since long. But now it has come out in the open. Both are too sharp, shrewd, straightforward and blunt in venting out their views publicly and behind the closed doors. “I have not been on speaking terms with Chaudhry Nisar for the last four years but this does not go against the interests of Pakistan,” Asif has stated. The interior minister deemed it fit to retaliate and said that he is in direct contact with the Pakistan Army and GHQ (General Headquarters) on the war against terrorism and does not need the Defence Ministry’s route for this purpose. He buttressed his attack at Asif when he said he did not understand how people have so much time to appear on TV every other day after make-up, wearing suit and tie. The continuing row between Asif and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is also known to all and sundry. It mainly relates to the chief minister’s extraordinary involvement in executing power projects especially the dead Nandipur plant that is the domain of Asif’s Water & Power Ministry. The fiasco created over the operationalisation of the Nandipur project has a lot to do with the conflict between the two. Nandipur plant managing director Mohammad Mehmood, who has now been removed, has fallen victim to this controversy. For having the full backing and blessings of the chief minister, he never took the top mandarins of the Water & Power Ministry seriously, which gave rise to animosity at the federal level against him. However, Asif recently said Shahbaz Sharif is his friend for the last fifty years, and there is nothing to worry about it because even old friends may also become annoyed with each other. Another commotion exists between Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and the duo of Asif and Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. Too much activation of the Planning Commission (PC), amounting to interference and creating hurdles in the execution of mega projects, annoyed the pair that at one point they demanded abolition of the forum altogether. However, Ahsan Iqbal claims to have saved several billions of rupees due to PC’s active consideration of several projects.Asif has now played down his row saying that his and Abbasi’s criticism on the Planning Commission has nothing to do with Ahsan Iqbal. “It was just a joke that I had mentioned the words Shah Jahan. No one should take it to heart. I did not mean to mock and I apologise if it has hurt anyone. I nurse no differences or personal bitterness with Ahsan Iqbal.”
