KARACHI: In an attempt to strengthen itself before the next general elections, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to restructure its organisational set-up in Sindh, particularly in Karachi, expecting a better ‘understanding’ with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The PML-N also aims at bringing in an ad-hoc system before appointing a new provincial leadership to focus on urban areas, it emerged on Tuesday.

Sources in the PML-N told Dawn that the ‘Karachi-centric’ decisions were taken recently following multiple meetings where top party leaders had shown their ‘serious reservations’ over performance of its Sindh organisation.

The party leadership believed that the local leadership had ‘failed’ to establish any ‘foothold’ in the province over the past several years.

Maryam to mobilise supporters by visiting Karachi, other parts of Sindh, says local leader

On the other hand, the local representatives also had serious complaints against the central leadership as they believed it was ‘deliberately’ ignoring Sindh and focusing on Punjab alone, according to sources.

After a series of meetings and consultations, the party has decided to dissolve its Sindh organisation in all five divisions of the province and remove all leaders from their positions.

To run the party, the PML-N has decided to appoint a 15-member committee to look after the party affairs till the appointment of new office-bearers in Sindh, the sources added.

“And that [15-member] committee is most likely to be headed by former Sindh governor and close aide to Nawaz Sharif, Muhammad Zubair,” said a source privy to the upcoming announcements.

“Maryam Nawaz [senior vice president and chief organiser of the PML-N] is actually the person behind these decisions regarding the Sindh chapter of the party,” the sources claimed.

They said that she was not happy at all with the performance of the party in Sindh, mainly in Karachi, where the party had miserably failed to get any support among voters.

“The current local leadership also carries a list of grievances against the top brass of the party as it feels that they have failed them by deliberately ignoring Karachi and other parts of Sindh while behaving like a Punjab-centric party for over three decades,” the source added.

“You would never find any senior PML-N leader serious about political activism in Karachi or other parts of Sindh,” said a local leader of the party citing his and other colleagues’ grievances.

“They [senior PML-N leaders] have relatives, business interests and high personal stakes in Karachi, but what they miss is a sense of realisation for Karachi and its people. They have never played an active political role in Karachi seriously. The vision of this national-level party leaders revolves around Lahore and Punjab only. It’s the first time that Maryam [Nawaz] Bibi has taken personal interest and issued directives for reforms.”

Another thing, he said, which rekindled hope for the PML-N leaders in the upcoming general elections was its performance in the January local bodies’ election in Karachi where the PML-N managed to grab fourth place with seven seats after the PPP, JI and PTI.

“It’s because the party believes that it’s time to take chances in Karachi polls due to a space left by the MQM-P, which has been facing several challenges,” he added. “It is due to the same phenomena that other parties like the PPP, JI and PTI got some mandate in the local bodies’ elections and it also benefitted the PML-N. The success in local bodies’ polls can be translated in general elections.”

PPP and PML-N coordination

The debate, already going on within the PML-N over reforms in its Sindh chapter, intensified when top men from the PML-N and the PPP met in Dubai last month.

The leaders discussed a host of issues ranging from holding consultations to decide the timing of the next general elections in the country to the names in the upcoming caretaker set-up.

“During the same discussions Mian Sahib [Nawaz Sharif] sought support of [Asif Ali] Zardari Sahib for the party in Sindh urban areas for the next general elections,” said another PML-N source. “There’s an assurance from the PPP leadership to look into the proposals and for that it expects the same gesture from the PML-N in a few districts of Punjab. So things are shaping up on other fronts as well on parallel lines. We expect the recent restructuring in Sindh and assurance from the PPP for the upcoming polls are coinciding with each other very soon and at the right time.”

Maryam Nawaz in Karachi

The party’s Karachi chapter, on the other hand, has welcomed the pledge from Maryam Nawaz to address a rally in Karachi after her return to Pakistan which appears to be a part of her recent strategy about strengthening the party in the metropolis.

The party local leadership said Ms Nawaz had confirmed that she would soon visit Karachi after her return and also attend events in other Sindh districts.

“Apart from Karachi, the party would also stage rallies in Hala and Mithi. You would, hopefully, see an aggressive political activism of the party in the next few weeks. Other than a rally led by Maryam Bibi in Karachi, Mian Shaib [Nawaz Sharif] would also address another rally in Karachi soon after his return to Pakistan,” said PML-N Karachi secretary Nasiruddin Mahmood.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2023