In a Tight Spot

Appointment of Maryam as Nawaz’s political heir is dividing the party and drawing criticism from all sides

LAHORE: Despite claims by the local and top-tier leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) that return of the party’s chief organizer and its Senior Vice President, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, to the coun-try would be a historic event, her reception at Lahore airport on 28 January was nothing beyond a de-cent power show.

And this was foreseen by many PML-N leaders in her inner circle, who had said that it would be a gi-gantic task for her to mobilise party workers and convince voters to vote for PML-N at a time when the party’s federal government was making unpopular economic decisions.

“Look at the turnout of workers and leaders at her workers conventions,” said Tahseen Malik, a jour-nalist from south Punjab, who covered Maryam-led conventions in Bahawalpur and Multan last week. “Conventions were held in wedding halls, and in each function the attendance did not cross 2,000. Each ticket holder of the party was tasked with arranging 500 people, which most of them failed to do,” he said.

No new leader or electable announced joining the PML-N at these gatherings. Some media reports had suggested that Tariq Cheema may join the PML-N, but he denied the claim. One member of his inner circle commented that “why would Cheema jump onto PML-N’s sinking ship”.

After two shows in South Punjab – which has become a stronghold of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and to some extent of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) – Maryam has now made an appear-ance in the Hazara division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. In that area, she had to face internal differences that had developed between Sardar Mehtab Abbasi and Ameer Maqam. Following the PML-N’s Hazara, even Mehtab Abbasi came all guns blazing against the party leadership, highlighting growing differences and friction within the PML-N camp.

Acclaimed political analyst, Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi, told Bol News that it would be an uphill task for Maryam Nawaz to reorganise the party and attract the masses at a time when the party’s federal government is not performing well on the economic front.

Another political scientist and observer, Dr Marium Kamal, agreed with this contention, saying that PML-N’s top tier leadership had attached lots of expectations to Maryam Nawaz’s return and her role in reviving the party’s mass appeal. She was given the position of senior vice president in the party with the sole aim of triggering the PML-N’s renaissance against the backdrop of the Shehbaz Sharif government’s unpopular decisions.

According to Dr Kamal, the decision to appoint her at a senior party position was apparently driven by her potential as a crowd puller. But it also attracted criticism based on the narrative of hereditary poli-tics and power centralization within the family members.

Maryam’s Challenges

After staying out of picture for five months, Maryam returned to the country with her same old anti-Imran Khan narrative which she had been peddling in the past, but even some senior PML-N leaders admit that their party leadership has failed to come up with any vision for the future, barring eulogizing the Sharif family and dynastic politics, which is becoming more and more unacceptable to the people, especially in urban centers.

Therefore, they see Maryam as fighting a losing battle in her bid to revive the PML-N’s fortunes. Her current agenda is the revival of PML-N’s lost popularity against the back-drop of unprecedented inflation and the misrule of the Shehbaz Sharif government. She has to re-energise the party for the upcoming general elections on the one hand, and resolve the differences among the senior party members on the other.

Political analysts believe the Pakistani masses are done with the same faces they have tried and tested many times over. Yet, ‘Pakistanism’ is in dire need of visionary leadership that can provide an alterna-tive power structure and ensure sustainable growth, they say.

Dr Kamal explained that neither Maryam Nawaz’s absence from the country nor her return were mo-tivated by a desire to serve the cause of the masses. “All that she represents is being the legitimate heir of Nawaz Sharif, which itself is a stigma for being part of hereditary politics,” she said, adding that she has a long way to go to prove her individual capacity as a leader.

However, another political analyst, Dr Riffat Hussain, believes that Maryam is a crowd puller.

“As she holds more meetings, her popularity is likely to grow. She has a positive message for party workers, and they will get enthused and become more proactive,” Dr Hussain said, adding that her biggest problem would be to convince the workers on what caused the staggering price hike and how it can be brought under control.

Rebellion within a party

According to political insiders, another gigantic task for Maryam would be to keep the party intact at a time when a number of senior party leaders have started to openly criticize the party leadership. These leaders include former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, former Prime Minis-ter Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Federal Minister for Railways Saad Rafique, and former Chief Minister and Governor of KP, Sardar Mehtab Khan Abbasi.

Many of them are unhappy about the appointment of Maryam Nawaz as the party’s senior vice-president and chief organizer. They believe that their services for the party have been ignored.

But the rift is not that serious, according to Dr Hasan Askari. “We cannot call it a rebellion, but dissent is being observed, and it would be a task for Maryam to keep the party intact in these difficult times, and also reorganize the party and mobilise workers ahead of elections,” he said.

‘Maryam cannot re-organise the party alone’

Some party leaders who had worked closely with Maryam told Bol News that it would be a difficult task for her to reorganise the party all by herself. She will need the support of her cousin, Hamza Shehbaz, they said.

“Imran Khan’s popularity graph is on the rise, and people are buying his arguments. In such a situation, we need someone like Hamza Shehbaz, who knows constituency politics more than Maryam,” a senior PML-N leader said, adding that while Maryam could pull the crowds through her charm and glam-our, Hamza could identify and convince the ‘electables’ to contest on the PML-N’s ticket.