ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Mian Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday finally agreed to the advice of senior party leaders and has decided to adopt a reconciliatory approach towards the state institutions.
Sharif, who earlier in the day appeared before the accountability court, chaired an informal meeting of the party leaders here at the Punjab House and informed them about his decision to go soft on the state institutions at least for the time being. The closed-door meeting was held soon after Sharif returned to Punjab House from the court hearing.
A source inside PML-N said, “Sharif informed the meeting that keeping in view wishes of the party leaders, neither he nor his daughter Maryam Nawaz spoke to media after the court hearing. So peace is the message for the time being.”
The source said that party’s senior leadership has advised Nawaz to go soft against state institutions, especially against the military establishment so that the party can endure through the critical phase of Senate Elections due in March next year. The source added that Sharif had been informed that the party’s vote bank was intact despite the court’s negative verdict in the Panama Papers case.
“Nawaz Sharif has been informed that the recent surveys have reflected that the party’s vote bank in intact. So the party is still in a position to win next elections if the leadership doesn’t commit a political blunder,” the source revealed.
The source also informed that the party president had also agreed to embark on a mass contact campaign as the party had made a mistake by leaving the ground open for political opponent Imran Khan, who made important gains recently in South Punjab and Sindh. “It has been decided that for the time being that party leaders would accompany PML-N president to various jalsas,” the source added.
It is pertinent to mention here that almost all the coalition partners, including Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F), National Party and Pakistan Muslim League Zia (PML-Z), have already advised Nawaz to shun confrontational path against state institutions and rather adopt a reconciliatory path. Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai is the only politician who urged Sharif to intensify criticism against the military establishment during his planned mass contact campaign, which would help him regain mass popularity and build pressure on institutions.
The source added that the coalition partners had been approached by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi who conveyed the input to senior Sharif.
Among the PML-N ranks, senior leaders Chaudhry Nisar, Raja Zafarul Haq, Shehbaz Sharif, Khwaja Saad Rafique, Sardar Mehtab Abbasi, Amir Muqam, Abdul Qadir Baloch, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and many others have advised Sharif not to attack state institutions.
Sources in the ruling party informed Pakistan Today that the meeting decided to jointly work for evolving the issue of new delimitations amicably so that the new elections could be held on the basis of new voters’ lists, and the party would be able to get the delimitations bill passed.
Sardar Ayaz Sadiq also briefed the meeting over the meeting of parliamentary leaders held at the National Assembly Secretariat to evolve a consensus to get support for the delimitations bill.
