For unity PML-N leaders withhold reaction to Nisar’s remarks

Islamabad :All tiers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have consciously maintained a complete silence on the elaborate straight talk that former interior minister and senior party leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has done in a lengthy interview to Geo News.

The fundamental reason behind their silence is not to fuel any commotion, pushing the PML-N in further trouble at a time when deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is confronted with a hard situation in the wake of his Supreme Court-sanctioned disqualification as well as the serious disease of his spouse, Begum Kulsoom.

When on-the-record reaction of some PML-N leaders was sought, they refused to oblige and came out with the argument that they did not want to lock horns with Chaudhry Nisar at this point of time and the party policy is to stay away from any talk that may hurt its unity.

However, one of them expressed the view on condition of anonymity that the former minister should have withheld his views about Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam when she is faced with a trying situation because of the grave illness of her mother, disqualification of her father and institution of references against her entire family in the accountability court.

Additionally, the PML-N leader, who is a member of the federal cabinet, said that Maryam is hectically spearheading single-handed the election campaign for her mother in NA-120 Lahore, the result of which will be very important for the party and national politics. For the moment, she needs assistance and help from the senior party leaders, he said.

Even when some federal ministers have been publicly asked about the points emphasized by Chaudhry Nisar, they indirectly answered them without referring to his assertions. But they were quite careful and cautious as they did not want to give rise to any internal tussle. Had they responded in the same vein, the PML-N would have been hit by a huge controversy, resulting in more predicaments for it.

On Monday, Maryam obliquely responded to the former minister’s criticism on her when she said that she was in the political field after imposition of martial law by Pervez Musharraf when some leaders were hiding in their homes and were not actively taking part in the party politics.

However, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Aitzaz Ahsan, who has been exchanging heated statements with the former interior minister, has said that the PML-N will be asked questions about Chaudhry Nisar’s statement. Senior PPP stalwart Qamar Zaman Kaira was displeased over the ex-minister’s remarks about Maryam saying that they should have not been passed. 

Chaudhry Nisar is estranged with the former prime minister for excluding him from the critical consultative process a few months before Nawaz Sharif’s ouster by the apex court in the Panama case. He has openly expressed his disagreement with the party policy over the handling of the Panama case in the apex court as well as the Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

He has disapproved the aggressive line taken by Nawaz Sharif after his exit. The ex-premier has repeatedly stressed the sanctity of vote and vehemently rejected the perennial scheme of ousting all prime ministers prematurely. Chaudhry Nisar also disagreed with the hardline taken by Nawaz Sharif in his four-day GT Road travel in a cavalcade.

On the other hand, he has stated that he is happily ready to work with Shahbaz Sharif as the next PML-N president. He always has a remarkable understanding with him. They have been jointly urging Nawaz Sharif to soften his stand on a host of issues. But the former premier mostly ignored their opinion and has been doing what he has decided to do.