Several politicians termed Nawaz Sharif’s election on Wednesday as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president “merely a formality” and said that they did not expect any change in the political scene of the country. Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid said that Nawaz Sharif’s unanimous election as PML-N’s president was merely a formality since everyone knew as to which family the party had always belonged. He said that the Wednesday’s party election of the PML-N’s would have no impact on country’s politics. “It will only promote the hereditary politics in the country”, Rashid observed. Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Information Secretary Umer Cheema said that it was unfortunate to see that the party (PML-N), since its inception, had been run as a “family entrepreneurship”.
He said, “PTI leader Imran Khan has already said the country can never prosper as long as the politics will be deemed as profitable and hereditary”. He compared Sharif’s election with Zardari’s elevation to PPP’s co-chairman based on “controversial will of late Benazir Bhutto” four years ago. Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) central leader Wasay Jalil congratulated Nawaz Sharif on his election as the president of PML-N and hoped that the party would play an effective role to strengthen democracy. Presidential spokesman and PPP senior leader Farhat Ullah Babar said that President Zardari had felicitated PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif on his election as party’s president. He said that President Zardari had observed that Sharif’s election was a measure of trust reposed in him by his party. Babar said that the President had expressed the hope that the PML-N would continue to play a positive role in strengthening democracy, supremacy of parliament and rule of law in the country. PPP Punjab General Secretary Sami Ullah Khan also hoped that Nawaz Sharif and his party would work to strengthen democracy and the democratic institutions of the country.
