RAWALPINDI: After its defeat in the elections in the Rawalpindi district, local PML-N leaders and workers have started efforts to end differences between the party leadership and former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

A senior leader of the PML-N told Dawn that the local leaders and workers wanted to unite the party as due to the internal differences it lost many seats in the district.

See: After 30 years, Rawalpindi no more a PML-N fort

He said efforts were being made to arrange a meeting between the PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif and Chaudhry Nisar at Adiala Jail. “But before arranging the meeting, it is necessary to get permission from Mr Sharif.” He said the party workers and local leaders were of the view that there was a need to bring back Chaudhry Nisar to the party because his leadership qualities always helped the local leaders to handle complicated issues in the Potohar region.

Efforts underway to arrange a meeting between Nawaz Sharif and the former interior minister in Adiala jail

“The local leaders were headless in the 2018 elections and failed to launch an effective campaign and all the candidates worked separately in their constituencies. Chaudhry Tanveer Khan is senior among the local leaders but he is not capable of handling many issues,” he said.

“The results of the two constituencies in the 2018 elections showed that had the votes bagged by Chaudhry Nisar as an independent and the PML-N candidates were combined, the party would not have lost the elections.”

He said the PML-N wanted to end its internal differences before the by-elections in NA-60 and NA-59 Rawalpindi.

“The party has two options for NA-59: to get Chaudhry Nisar agree to contest the by-polls on the PML-N ticket and to field Raja Qamarul Islam for the seat again.”

However, he said, people were mostly of the view that Qamarul Islam should not be fielded in the by-election.

He said discussions had started on the issue at the higher level of the party.

He said the workers and local leaders did not accept former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi or PML-N Punjab General Secretary Raja Ashfaq Sarwar to lead the party in the district or at the division level.

Many Union Council chairmen in the district are still loyal to the former interior minister and want him (Chaudhry Nisar) to play his role in the PML-N,” he said, adding they (UC chairmen) had conveyed this to the party leadership,” he said.

When contacted, former PML-N MNA Malik Shakil Awan said the party was united under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif and the local leaders would work as per their directives.

However, he admitted that most of the PML-N workers wanted to end the differences between the party leadership and Chaudhry Nisar as soon as possible.

He said in the past Chaudhry Nisar supervised the election campaigns and he had the ability to effectively run the party in the Potohar region.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2018