Pakistan Muslim League (N) is the second largest political party in Pakistan in terms of votebank and in terms of seats in Assembly. In the 2008 general elections, PML(N) was able to win 91 National Assembly seats and 181 provincial assembly seats majority of which (63 National Assembly and 171 Provincial Assembly ) belong to Punjab whereas it was unable to win any seat from Sindh and fewer from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Keeping in view these results, it can’t be termed as a national party as its major representation is from Punjab only.
Since the elections, PML(N) had no clear vision and remained confused regarding certain issues and decisions. First they joined the PPP coalition government in centre and took oath from Pervez Musharraf.
They were betrayed by the Asif Ali Zardari (Co-Chairman of PPP) many times and then finally decided to quit government. To be in the power, they bypassed their own Charter of Democracy CoD) and in Punjab, they are supporting a faction of PML(Q). It looks like as for them Punjab is only Pakistan as none of their prominent leadership has bothered to visit Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for almost a decade.
They always keep on crying for Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan but in true sense they don’t really care about rest of Pakistan else than Punjab. They have their own paradise in Raiwind and they don’t want to come out of that paradise.
For three years eight months and 10 days they didn’t notice any corruption, any price hike, any law and order issue and as soon as Imran Khan announced his procession in Lahore to be held on 30th October, they woke up from their dreamy world and came to know that there are several issues being faced by Pakistani people and decided to hold a procession in their own den.
It is funny that a party is holding anti-government rallies and processions in a province where they are in power themselves. Millions of rupees are being spent to make this procession successful. Even if they had decided to organise this procession in Balochistan, FATA, KPK, interior Sindh, Southern Punjab then I may had decided to commend their effort. But today’s procession is just eyewash. It is just a political drama to save their drowning worth and votebank in Punjab.
Leaders like Javed Hashmi, who took care of whole party in era of Musharraf and was put in jail too, have been sidelined. The party which cannot do justice with their own leaders, how will they do justice with the masses? Unfortunately, this is not just the case of PML(N)but every other party.
ASAD UR REHMAN
Lahore