Dust largely settles with change of PML-N guard

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and President of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Nawaz Sharif’s categorical announcement that Shahbaz Sharif will be the party’s prime ministerial aspirant should it win the 2018 general elections is meant to clear any confusion, infuse confidence in its rank and file and tell all and sundry that its supreme leader himself is not in the race for the top slot for now.

The declaration will reinforce and instill unity in the PML-N as it will also be welcomed by a few party voices that have been calling for increased role for Shahbaz Sharif after the ex-premier’s disqualification. The dissenters, who, however, are keeping mum for quite some time after firing a few salvos, will be satisfied. Thus, the PML-N will whole-heartedly accept the decision of its supremo about Shahbaz Sharif as it consents to whatever he concludes in key areas.

After this critical pronouncement, the next question that will, however, arise in case the PML-N embraces triumph in the Punjab as to who will be its nominee for the position of the provincial chief minister. Shahbaz Sharif’s son Humza will certainly be in the running. The PML-N will decide not only young Sharif’s future assignment but also determine the task that will be given to Maryam Nawaz in the likely governments at the federal or provincial level after the parliamentary polls.

There is no doubt by now that she will be playing a significant part in the PML-N politics in future. She is already a dominant voice in the party. In the past five months following Nawaz Sharif’s Supreme Court-imposed disqualification, she has been quite active in the political field, talking about the “victimisation” and “injustice” done to the Sharif family. She had single-handedly run a successful election campaign for her mother in the by-election to NA-120 Lahore for weeks, culminating in her victory despite heavy odds.

Among those who are and would be extremely animated over the elevation of Shahbaz Sharif, former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan will stand out because of the unimpeachable camaraderie between the two for decades. Both have been overtly and quietly counseling Nawaz Sharif to alleviate his aggressive line even after his expulsion as the prime minister. Shahbaz Sharif’s selection also owes to his ‘acceptability’ in different quarters.

It is not clear what Chaudhry Nisar meant when he, just a couple of days back, urged the party to “clear confusion” so that it single-mindedly enters the election campaign that political parties have already started. If he wanted an unambiguous statement about Shahbaz Sharif’s ultimate nomination, it has come.

Even after Shahbaz Sharif will land in the prime minister’s office if the PML-N was voted to power and regardless of the figure occupying the Punjab chief minister’s berth, the real, dominant decision-maker in the party will continue to be Nawaz Sharif because of his firm grip and appeal. Shahbaz Sharif’s selection itself supports this hard fact as it has come from Nawaz Sharif. Whatever the performance the PML-N will show to the voters during the election campaign will be beholden to the former prime minister’s popularity. He is the actual vote getter for the party although Shahbaz Sharif has no parallel in Pakistan’s history as far as delivering especially in executing mega projects is concerned. He has surpassed everyone.

The PML-N’s public standing, as aptly put a party leader, is indebted to a combination of Shahbaz Sharif’s ceaseless hard work, devotion and commitment to produce results and Nawaz Sharif’s mass-scale appeal and down-to-earth, no-nonsense approach in key matters.

The assertive strategy adopted by the ex-premier in the post-qualification period and the resolve to campaign for “restoration of justice” will be focused during the PML-N’s canvassing for the 2018 polls. Side by side, the accomplishments made by the government over the past five years and the impediments and hardships faced by it will occupy the electoral rhetoric.

The expelled premier’s pronouncement about the final choice of the PML-N’s prime minister has finally pitched Shahbaz Sharif against the other leading contender for the coveted position – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan. While the PML-N has a lot to exhibit to the electorate to beg for their favour, it is yet to be seen what landmarks the PTI will present to attract voters except for getting Nawaz Sharif thrown out of office, staging sit-ins and protests for most of the time, causing instability, introducing new lingo in the political arena and erratic political demeanour.

However, the PTI will be mainly banking on its achievements in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) that Imran Khan is marketing everywhere forcefully, but it has a narrow scope. It will be an open question how far the provincial model of his dreamy new Pakistan will appeal to the voters across Pakistan and how far his incessant anti-Nawaz Sharif rhetoric will pay dividends at the ballot box. Disregarding the popular perception and findings of a number of opinion polls that don’t favour his victory, Imran Khan is abundantly confident that he will carry the day as he has managed to get something – Nawaz Sharif’s expulsion – that no other politician ever could.