year ago, having controversially won the February 8 elections, the Sharif family-led Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had picked Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of three-time prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, for one of the most sought-after offices, that of the Punjab chief minister. The main objective was to regain the lost political ground in the Punjab, which has been a stronghold of the PML-N for over three decades, and counter the Imran Khan factor, which had changed the dynamics of politics in Pakistan in recent years.

Agreeing to head the Pakistan Democratic Movement government had caused a serious dent to the party as it had to take extremely unpopular decisions to meet the IMF conditions and avoid potential default on external payments. Meanwhile, their arch rival Imran Khan was on the roads, blaming PDM leaders and ‘foreign powers’ for bringing a no-confidence motion in connivance with the establishment. Imran Khan managed to win public support while the PML-N had to go ahead with what they called were the toughest economic decisions they had to take, claiming that they sacrificed their politics to ‘save the country’ from default.

Maryam Nawaz has a tough task. She has to win back the vote bank that the party lost to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf during this time. So far, she has done a good job. She has launched dozens of projects with a special focus on youth, environment, women, health and education. Recently, she made whirlwind visits to educational institutions across the province to woo the youth in the Punjab. The same youth had fallen for Imran Khan’s promise and had become PTI’s strength. It is still too early to say if she has been successful in her objective of winning them over.

PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif has decided to take a back seat since his return from the UK. Even though his party had tried to use his name and face during the elections, going to the extent of campaigning that he would be the prime minister after the party wins the election, but that didn’t work. Only recently has Nawaz Sharif started holding meetings with party representatives from across the province. In every other meeting, he has praised the steps being taken by his chief minister, Maryam Nawaz. It seems that he has been asked to meet and try to address their grievances as they feel they are being ignored by the party’s top leadership.

Meanwhile, in her first year of chief ministership Maryam Nawaz’s steps including Clean Punjab, focus on youth, environment, education, health, transport, removing encroachments across the cities of the province have helped the party stage a comeback. Her opponents have directed their critique to focus on her self-projection so far. After Usman Buzdar’s pathetic performance in the Punjab, which has been critiqued not only by rivals but by PTI’s own as well, Maryam Nawaz has come out at the front following a host of initiatives she has undertaken in the province.

The party, it appears, has taken a sigh of relief.

The biggest challenges for her government include providing jobs to the youth, attracting investment in the province and raising the purchasing power of the common man after a flood of unprecedented price-hike that has made the lives of the people miserable. According to the World Bank data, more people in Pakistan are living in poverty due to a number of factors, including difficult macroeconomic environment, natural disasters and a declining labour market. It says that in 2024, the lower-middle class income poverty rate in Pakistan was estimated to be 40.5 percent, which means that 40.5 percent of Pakistan’s population were living in poverty (about 13 million people). This represents a 7 percent increase in poverty since 2023.

The Imran Khan factor, historic price-hike and the submitting to the pressure of the establishment on almost every issue, such as the so-called judicial reforms, hostile actions towards opponents, rising terrorist attacks, failure to attract investment, etc are key elements that have played an important role in rising discontent among the masses.

The Maryam factor will only be able to deliver once the country’s overall economic outlook starts improving. Maryam may have been able to win back the support of a small segment of PML-N vote bank or the swing voters that either voted for PTI or remained uninterested during the February 8 elections. The PML-N will have to work very hard to counter the deeply ingrained political convictions of the youth inclined towards the PTI.

The writer is a senior broadcast journalist. He has worked with several news channels in Pakistan