'N leaders to request Nawaz for flexibility

LAHORE Apparently there seems to be no emergency in the PML-N ranks regarding wooing of other political parties and leaders to align with the party, but an unpronounced tension in the second tier leadership is simmering certainly. 'Since the options for new and fresh alignments are running out for the party, especially after the recent successful alliance formation at the national level while our emotional rhetoric of staying clean will bear no fruits, stated second-tier leaders, seeking anonymity. They are gathering their energies and rallying around at one point convince Quaid PML-N Nawaz Sharif upon his arrival back in the country for showing flexibility in order to have political alliances with other parties. 'If not now, especially when we are holding fort in one province, then there is every possibility that the party will be left alone to fend for itself in the next general elections. Then it will be an IJI-like situation of 1988, but this time it will be the PML-N, which will be fighting against all the other parties, including the odds, especially in the absence of no positive discrimination from the powers-that-be, observed a senior party leader. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has already shown signs of softness as he had underlined the need for forming an alliance of political parties forged in the name of safeguarding national interests, ridding the country of foreign pressures and taking steps to eradicate corruption and terrorism. 'It is being anticipated that the May 10 joint meeting of the PML-N in Islamabad will take decisions in this regard. However, cards for the game will be kept closed till things start unfolding, confided a party man. It goes without saying that the party has not made certain requisite moves, except issuing statements 'Birds of a feather flock together aiming at belittling the PPP-Q alliance, which has been further strengthened by the inclusion of the MQM in the Cabinet fold. So far a senior PML-N delegation, comprising Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa, Mehtab Abbasi and Iqbal Zafar Jhagra visited Sindh and met nationalists, including Save Sindh Movement (SSM) chief Shah Muhammad Shah and Jalal Mehmood Shah. Interestingly, the former was provincial Adviser for Information during the former Nawaz Sharif government. He had quit the PML-N to join the PPP after Nawaz government was overthrown by Pervez Musharraf.