LAHORE: ‘Displeasure’ has been conveyed to the Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari from the Sharifs over his son’s “uncalled for remarks” against them.

“The Sharifs — former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif — did not like the comments of PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and conveyed their displeasure to the party’s [PPP] top leadership,” a senior PML-N leader told Dawn on Sunday.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari had on Saturday declared that like Imran Khan, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif had also been ‘selected’ [by the establishment] for the post of premier. “Before Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif was a selected premier. Benazir Bhutto did not allow Mr Sharif to become Ameerul Momineen (emir of Muslims) and led a vibrant opposition with just 17 members in the National Assembly (in 1997),” the PPP leader said and also chided Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif for his long absence from parliament. “Like the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, the PML-N also does not give importance to parliament.”

The PML-N leader said that after the ‘displeasure’ expressed by the Sharifs it was expected that there would be no more ‘friendly firework’ from Mr Bhutto-Zardari. “Our party leadership has strictly directed us not to respond as we have to go together against the PTI government,” he added.

PPP chairman had said like Imran, Nawaz was also ‘selected’ for the post of prime minister

PML-N Punjab information secretary Azma Bokhari told Dawn that Mr Bhutto-Zardari should talk about future as there was no point in indulging in recriminations. “The history of the PPP and other parties is before everyone. We want the PPP to focus on the poor performance of the PTI regime that has made the lives of the masses miserable through price hike, inflation, unemployment, etc, and should not do a thing that hurts the common cause of the opposition,” she said.

PPP senior leader and Punjab secretary general Chaudhry Manzor told Dawn that the party chairman explained the fact when he was asked [by a journalist] whether Nawaz Sharif was a selected prime minister like incumbent Imran Khan. “What Mr Bilawal’s answer could have been... since the answer is very much obvious based on facts,” he maintained.

When told that Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s anti-Sharifs tirade might hurt the unity of the opposition, Mr Chaudhry said: “I do not think so. Our party has its own politics and others have theirs. The opposition parties are agreed only on one point and that is getting rid of the Imran Khan government. No alliance of the opposition has been formed either to oust Imran Khan through in-house change or launching a protest campaign against inflation together.”

What made Bilawal to take on Sharifs

Some PML-N leaders are of the view that Mr Bhutto-Zardari has been advised by some PPP leaders close to him that if he wants to revive the party in Punjab he will have to take on the Sharifs. “Since there is no immediate requirement of both parties to cooperate with each other for a common cause like in-house change, Bhutto-Zardari set his guns on the Sharifs along with Imran Khan and PTI to gain political mileage,” a PML-N insider said.

He said the PPP leader knew that since the Imran Khan-led government had been given more time by the ‘selector’, he was doing “aggressive politics” in Punjab, showing no care to its natural ally [PML-N] at the moment in the face of common challenge of sending the PTI government home.

“At the moment we want the selector [a reference to the establishment] to stop supporting the PTI regime and give a level playing field to other parties.

“Although the selector has given a few more months to Imran Khan to deliver, we have conveyed to it that the PML-N wants only mid-term polls and nothing short of it,” he said.

Nawaz Sharif has been undergoing medical treatment in London since November last year, while Shahbaz Sharif is there to look after the former. Sources believe that Shahbaz Sharif will return to the country only after ‘some arrangement’ is made to oust the PTI government.

A PPP leader said there was no need to read too much into Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s remarks about the Sharifs which were facts narrated in reference to the context.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2020