ISLAMABAD - A clear divide has emerged among the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ranks on question of how to react to what the party views government’s onslaught on the party, background interaction with the party members suggests.
According to sources in the party, the pacifists within the PML-N are not happy over Nawaz Sharif’s speech to the participants of the All Parties Conference (APC). They also think that the speech and Maryam Nawaz’s participation in the APC has ruined prospects of a patch up with the ‘decision makers’. On the other side, the hawks believe that the silence opted by Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz gave nothing to the party but earned a label of ‘compromising politics’ being pursued by the party. They believe that the party is passing through difficult times; Maryam could not proceed for London, Nawaz Sharif has been declared absconder, warrants are out for the spouse of Shehbaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law and that the party was being pushed against the wall and under the circumstances, they have been left with no option but to challenge the government. They are sure that neither Nawaz nor Maryam will remain silent now.
According to the sources, the party seems divided on how to react to the ‘onslaught’ against the opposition party. The pacifists think that Nawaz Sharif is in London along with his sons and has put the local leadership in trouble by announcing a ‘war’ against the government and the ‘decision makers’. They said that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also thinks that on one side Nawaz is pressurizing them for resignations but seem not willing to return to Pakistan. According to the sources, on the question of en-mass resignations, Bilawal has asked Nawaz to return to the country first and then personally submit resignations to the speaker. According to the insiders, Bilawal and Shehbaz are on the same page as far as en-mass resignations are concerned and opposed to any move to tender resignations while Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Nawaz Sharif think alike and endorse the idea of en-mass resignations.
he party insiders said that Shehbaz Sharif is not happy with the slogan of “Vote ko izzat do” promoted by Nawaz Sharif and, if not arrested, may soon proceed for London for having consultations with his elder brother on the issue. “He would convey to his brother that aggressive posture may create rift in the party ranks and the party may face difficulties during the local bodies’ elections,” said a party insider. On the other hand, Nawaz Sharif has reached a point of no-return and if he fails to convince Shehbaz Sharif on the question of how to respond to the ‘onslaught’, he may opt for silence. Nawaz Sharif has announced war against the ‘decision makers’ and the time will tell if his party could reach the power corridors again while fighting the ‘decision makers’.