PML-N legislators boil over Shahbaz Sharif’s return issue

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) parliamentary party Tuesday saw severe criticism of the party policies with some leaders demanding Shahbaz Sharif’s return to lead the party adopting Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s narrative.

Senior party leaders Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Raja Zafarul Haq, Ahsan Iqbal and Khawaja Asif chaired the parliamentary party meeting.

A total of 42 out of 83 party members attended the meeting. The leaders directed Chief Whip Murtaza Javed Abbasi to ensure the attendance of all the members in the party meetings in future. It was decided that henceforth the parliamentarians will have to give concrete reasons for not attending the parliamentary party meeting.

Opposition Leader in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq, parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Khawaja Muhammad Asif, ex-PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal, ex-NA speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Mushahidullah Khan, Rana Sanaullah Khan, Chaudhry Birjees Tahir and other parliamentarians from the Senate and the National Assembly attended the meeting.

Javed Latif MNA and Senator Pir Sabir Shah were prominent among those who criticized the leadership in their speeches. Sources in the party told The News that Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha demanded the return of Shahbaz Sharif to lead the party afresh following the narrative of the party Quaid Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. A number of party leaders supported his demand.

He is considered close to the party leader Maryam Nawaz. According to sources, the meeting expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of Khawaja Asif in Parliament and suggested appointment of a senior leader to represent the party in a befitting manner.

Some leaders proposed the appointment of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the parliamentary leader to better defend the party and put the government on the defensive on a number of national issues. It has been learnt that the party will send the proposal to its leaders in London for discussion and a final decision.

Defending his position, Khawaja Asif said he should not be targeted, as all the decisions were taken in consultation with the party’s top leaders. A visibly perturbed Pir Sabir Shah complained that the party had suffered much by not adhering to Nawaz Sharif’s slogan of ‘Vote ko Izzat Do’ and suggested that the government should have been put on the defensive due to its poor performance. He warned that the party would lose the people’s support if it did not follow Nawaz Sharif’s popular stance.

He suggested that the party should give representation to leaders from provinces other than the Punjab in its decision-making process. Javed Latif insisted that the party leadership should consult more members before making decisions. He also hinted at possible criticism by the masses, as it had made a mistake. However, he did not specify the mistake he was referring to.

The meeting discussed the government’s performance with particular reference to the flour and sugar crisis, crash of the stock exchange market, accumulation of record loan and inflation rate.

The meeting observed that the rulers were bent upon political victimization of Nawaz Sharif and doing politics on his health. It also observed that owing to the government’s poor performance the country’s financial health had deteriorated and the stock market had crashed, while circular debt was on the rise at the rate of Rs41 billion per month.

The meeting also categorically rejected the FIA report on the flour and sugar crisis observing that a story had been fabricated to protect the leader of those responsible for the crisis and reiterated demand for formation of a parliamentary committee probe into the scam.

The meeting also observed that the government lacked a sound economic policy or a strategy to turn the economy around. It alleged that a group of robbers and corrupt mafia was ruling the country.

The meeting also condemned the ongoing situation in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) following its annexation with India and grave situation in India where mosques, houses and shops of Muslims were being burnt.

The meeting demanded the international community to take a serious note of the situation in the IOK and India. The party later issued a press statement criticizing the government policies.

The party also condemned attack on Nawaz Sharif's physician Dr Adnan Khan and expressed hope that the UK police will provide justice. However, there was no mention of the leadership's demand that Shahbaz should return to Pakistan.