Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and disgruntled party leader Chaudhry Nisar met again on Sunday – reportedly their third meeting in a week.
According to sources, the two discussed various party issues, including a strategy for the upcoming general elections and ways to strengthen the party, along with Shehbaz’s recent trip to Karachi and Peshawar.
Moreover, according to sources, the two party leaders discussed in the two-hour-long meeting the recent defection of PML-N lawmakers from south Punjab.
The rift between Nisar, a veteran party leader from Rawalpindi, and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif has been brewing since July last year following Nawaz’s disqualification and subsequent public offensive against his ouster.
On Saturday, Nisar, in a statement, said that it seems that the country’s biggest problem is whether he gets a party ticket for the upcoming elections or not. He said he had never asked for a party ticket in his 35-year long political career and he did not intend to do so in the future.
Nisar’s statement came after Nawaz’s daughter and upcoming party leader Maryam criticised on Friday that people “not hopeful of getting tickets from the PML-N” want to join rival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Maryam was likely responding to reports that Nisar may be joining the PTI – PML-N’s arch nemesis.
Earlier, Nisar had said he would not become part of any decision that makes Maryam the party’s leader.
Furthermore, in February it was reported that Nawaz had parted ways with his longtime associate Nisar and decided to not extend an invitation to him for the Central Working Committee session.
Nisar had also in the past publicly expressed reservations with senior PML-N leadership.
He had also refused to be part of a new cabinet after Nawaz , the then PML-N president, was disqualified as prime minister. Nisar, at various occasions, advised Nawaz not to adopt a confrontational approach following his disqualification but the PML-N supremo ignored the advice and indirectly criticised Nisar as well.
Published in Daily Times, April 16th 2018.
