In a bid to overcome the internal strife over provincial party positions and want for more interaction between leaders and workers, the PML-N is contemplating dividing the country or the provinces in various zones and electing their office bearers instead of electing provincial ones, Pakistan Today learnt on Tuesday.
After electing central and district office bearers, the PML-N was supposed to elect provincial office bearers after Ramadan but a source in the party said the PML-N’s central command was mulling dividing the country or each province in multiple zones and elect their office bearers instead of electing provincial office bearers in a conventional way.
“By dividing the provinces into various zones, the party will not only be able to accommodate a number of aspirants of party positions but this move will also strengthen PML-N organisation by developing strong interaction between party workers and leaders,” the source added.
He said the proposed design would also reduce tension of PML-N’s top command, which was having trouble in finalising the names of provincial office bearers due to intra-party differences on lingual basis in various provinces.
“By dividing Sindh into rural and urban zones, the party’s central command will be able to bring Sindhi-speaking office bearers for rural Sindh while Urdu-speaking leaders such as former Sindh governor Mamnoon Hussain and Saleem Zia could be elected top office holders for urban Sindh,” the source said, adding that there was a conflict among Urdu and Sindhi-speaking workers in Sindh as both sides were claiming stakes on provincial positions. The PML-N leader said the party was facing the same problem in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “In Balochistan, the party’s Baloch workers support a Baloch leader for the slot of provincial president while Pashtu-speaking workers/leaders want to secure the slot for a man from their community. This controversy can also be resolved amicable by dividing Balochistan into two or more zones,” he added.
He said the same formula could be applied in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where Sardar Mehtab Abbasi or Pir Sabir Shah could be elected party head in the Hazara zone while the PML-N’s Pashtun leaders such as Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and Saranjaam Khan could get the top slots in another Pasthun populated zone.
The source said in Punjab, where the PML-N was not facing the same problem, Zulfiqar Khosa, Shahbaz Sharif, Raja Ishfaq Sarwar could be elected zonal heads of Southern, Central and Upper Punjab respectively.
“If Punjab or the country is not divided into zones, the tussle between various central leaders for securing slots of provincial presidents and secretaries general and consequent disappointment for the few failed-ones may create an atmosphere of discontent and disharmony in the party,” the source said.
He said another important factor behind the creation of zones was the growing discontent among party’s workers regarding lack of interaction between them and party’s central or provincial office bearers. “As a central or provincial head of the party cannot spare much time to frequently meet party workers, the zonal heads would be able to do so as the sizes of their domains would be reduced,” he said. When contacted, PML-N Deputy Information Secretary Khurram Dastgir Khan said it was true that the party was considering creation of zonal party chapters “but the provincial structure of the party will remain as is”. “We can elect divisional or zonal office holders but at the same time provincial office bearers would also be elected to supervise party’s zonal, divisional and district chapters … we are taking these measures as we enter in election year thus want more mobilisation in the party,” he added. He said the PML-N would complete its organisation by the mid of September.
