Our political world is never devoid of foul play, and the most recent addition to the list is a spat of exchange of words between Pakistan Muslim League-N’s two bigwigs – former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and former information minister Senator Pervez Rasheed. Both once sat on the cabinet of once (no, thrice) prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Of the three, Pervez Rasheed was the first o go; Nawaz Sharif followed him, while Chaudhry Nisar opted not to be part of the ensuing cabinet.
The press and electronic media are abuzz with their statements directed at each other. That is so absurd. It all started with Pervez Rasheed’s interview with Nasim Zehra’s programme on a TV channel talk show where the former information minister pointed finger at his former colleague for his disgraceful exit from the cabinet of then prime minister, and now disqualified in the Panama Gate case, Nawaz Sharif, for his alleged role in the Dawn Leaks. The saga, which started after the publication of a news story by Cyril Almeida in Dawn that the civilians had mounted pressure on the military establishment to curtail militants for avoiding international isolation. The establishment pressured the government to a hold a probe into the publication of, what the establishment dubbed a fabricated and unfounded story, but even before the start of the probe, Pervez Rasheed was sacked from the ministry. The wounds might keep him sleepless.
Once the Dawn Leaks saga was over, the Panama Leaks struck the PML-N government and claimed the head of Nawaz Sharif. In the ensuing developments, Chaudhry Nisar Ali showed his dissenting note and refused to join the cabinet of Prime Minister Shahid Kahqan Abbasi and has been keeping his dissenting face since then. His criticism stretches from Nawaz Shari’s anti-judiciary postures to Maryam Nawaz’s bids to outshine Shahbaz Sharif’s as the likely successor to Nawaz Sharif. Chaudhry Nisar is of the opinion that Shahbaz Sharif should be a candidate to the prime minister’s office after the general election. Nawaz Sharif and his daughter have serious reservations about Shahbaz Sharif, and have frustrated the Nisar-Shahbaz camp to aim at the prime minister’s prized chair.
In this context, now Pervez Rasheed has been unleashed on Chaudhry Nisar to oust him from the PML-N even before the general election, conveying a harsh message to Shahbaz Sharif too to “know your place”. Pervez Rasheed is very close to Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz, and without their consent, he cannot foment against Chaudhry Nisar. He has been dared to contest elections without the symbol of tiger. Omens show that Chaudhry Nisar’s days in the PML-N have been numbered.
If Chaudhry Nisar is shown the door, bad days for Shahbaz Sharif will begin too. It will lead to chaos and polarization in the PML-N, benefitting the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the Pakistan People’s Party in the 2018 elections. But the fact is that the PML-N is better off without Chaudhry Nisar Ali and Shahbaz Sharif, who both have been supporters of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan; Pervez Rasheed is not an angel as being information minister, he would devout his mouth work to degrade the political opponents, instead of fighting the case of Pakistani government. If one looks with clear vision, they will realise that the whole PML-N has been the carrier of a plagued, bleak ideology.
May God bring better times for Pakistan!
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