- Rift deepens between Nawaz, Nisar
Top Sharif loyalist and a staunch Muslim Leaguer– Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan – shocked many senior ruling party leaders on Wednesday by not appearing either at the Punjab House to accompany ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif nor he welcomed his party chief anywhere in Rawalpindi.
Background interviews and interactions with former and incumbent colleagues and subordinates of the minister revealed that the Chaudhry Nisar is not on speaking terms with some of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ministers, including Foreign Minister Khwaja Asif.
Though, Chaudhry Nisar had announced to drive the car carrying Nawaz Sharif a few days before the send off, the former interior minister did not turn up to at least see off his party leader who plans to go back to his Jaati Umra residence at Raiwind after being disqualified for life from political arena by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
With no one ready to speak on the record over the mysterious disappearance of Chaudhry Nisar from the entire political rally, a senior PML-N leader said that the former interior minister was not healthy and that’s why he could not make it to the send off of the senior Sharif.
“Chaudhry Nisar did not turn up on Wednesday because of his back problem as he has a chronic backache,” the source added.
However, another party leader said, “Chaudhry Sahib had advised Mian Sahib (Nawaz Sharif) not to travel via GT Road (Grand Trunk Road) due to security threats. But Mian sahib decided to ignore Nisar’s advice and went ahead with his plan. Since Nisar did not agree with the decision, he preferred to stay away from the rally,” the leaguer said.
However, Nisar hasn’t released any statement in this regard.
Nisar is a seasoned campaigner in politics since 1985. He has been not only in politics but has always been a member of successive assemblies since 1985. In PML-N, Nisar has been one of the key decision-makers since the 1980s. His father and grandfather were also veteran politicians.
After leaving Nawaz Sharif high and dry by not accompanying him in the rally, Chaudhry Nisar is at the crossroads of his long political career. Observers say that he is set to be dumped by Prime Minister House and GHQ simultaneously and would soon become irrelevant.
The PML-N insiders claim that Chaudhry Nisar is not at peace with so-called ‘Kashmiri Group’ who dominates the federal cabinet.
But the tiff between Nisar and elder Sharif has a history too. Before 2013 polls, Chaudhry Nisar had lobbied to become the Punjab chief minister and proposed that Shehbaz Sharif be made the minister for energy in the centre due to his proximity with the Chinese leadership.
Nawaz Sharif, however, not only shot down the proposal but also did not release party ticket to Ch Nisar for a provincial seat. Resultantly, Ch Nisar contested the election as an independent candidate and won. This further derailed the equation between the PM and Nisar.
According to leaguers, Shehbaz Sharif had recently proposed to appoint Nisar as the prime minister after the apex court disqualified Nawaz Sharif so as Nisar could use his good offices to repair relations with the military and judiciary. However, the ousted premier preferred to appoint Shahid Khaqan Abbasi – his jail mate over Nisar.
