No cakewalk in NA-120
Kalsum Nawaz’s papers for NA-120 have been accepted in her absence. Her performance on September 17, when the by-elections are due, would be closely watched by the party rank and file, the opposition and the establishment. A lesser margin of victory would be considered an indication of a slippage in party’s popularity. A defeat would have catastrophic effect on the party’s morale. With the NAB springing into action, new trials and tribulation meanwhile await Nawaz Sharif.
A pro-establishment trait is written into the PML-N’s DNA. The party invariably loses vigour when it is seen by the workers to have fallen from grace. The PML-N failed to come out into the streets to show solidarity with their leader on July 28 much the same way as it had abandoned a tearful Nawaz Sharif on September 10, 2007 – when he tried to land in Lahore but was forcibly bundled off to Jeddah by Musharraf assisted by Saudi Interior Minister, Prince Muqrin. This was one of the events that made Nawaz Sharif ‘ideological,’ as he put it last month. Some of the old timers who understand the thinking of the party workers well had advised Nawaz Sharif to avoid confronting the institutions and return to Lahore via motorway rather than GT road. Subsequently several PML-N leaders did not participate in the Islamabad-Lahore rally.
As Sharif ratcheted up his anti-establishment rhetoric during the rally, several turncoats from Musharraf’s King’s Party that Sharif had inducted into the PML-N started looking towards the establishment for advice. There were reports about a bloc of over 40 party lawmakers willing to say goodbye to Sharif provided asked to do so by those who matter. There were also indications of bickering within the family. The announcement of Sardar Yaqub Nasir as acting President has elicited complaints from a number of party leaders – including Ch Nisar. Thing were different when Sharif was supposed to enjoy the support of the establishment. It remains to be seen if the PML-N workers would jump into the NA-120 fray with the enthusiasm displayed in 2013.
