• Eyes strategic partnerships in all provinces ahead of polls
• Alliance with JUI-F ‘almost certain’; PML-Q, IPP off the radar
• Concerns raised over appointment of ex-FIA head as PML-N’s Sindh president

LAHORE: After taking MQM-P on board, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif is likely to visit Balochistan next week to join hands with the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) for upcoming polls.

“During his visit to Balochistan, Mr Sharif is also expected to meet some electables and a formal alliance with the BAP will be announc­­ed,” a party insider told Dawn.

“The elder Sharif is keen to grab ‘reasonable seats’ in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which he considers very important to form the federal government after the coming elections,” he said.

In KP, the PML-N’s alliance with the JUI-F of Maulana Fazlur Rehman was “almost certain”, the party leader said.

The PML-N, however, appears reluctant to accommodate the PML-Q of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) of Jehangir Khan Tareen.

Both Mr Shujaat and Mr Tareen played their role in toppling the Imran Khan government in April last year with an understanding with the Sharifs that seat adjustments would be made with them in general elections.

However, in a changing political scenario in which the PML-N apparently has emerged as a “sole favourite” party of the powers that be, the party is calling the shots on its terms.

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“The PML-Q may be given an option in the coming days to merge itself with the PML-N if Chaudhry Shujaat wants seats for his two sons and the party secretary general Tariq Bashir Cheema,” a senior PML-N leader from Punjab told Dawn.

As for the IPP, he said some of its leaders were approaching the Sharif brothers, asking them not to field candidates against them in Punjab.

“No political alliance of PML-N and IPP is in sight. However, some IPP leaders who remained very close to the Sharifs may manage to have adjustments against their seats with the PML-N in Lahore and elsewhere,” he said.

He said that if the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf of Imran Khan was “effectively neutralised” ahead of the polls, the PML-N would emerge as a majority party in Punjab.

“The PML-N wants a strong government both in the Centre and Punjab as it has conveyed to the quarters concerned that the economy will only be stabilised if a government with a sizable mandate is installed,” he said.

Concerns in Sindh chapter

Meanwhile, a senior PML-N leader from Sindh, Muhammad Zubair, has raised serious concerns over the Sharifs’ decision to hand over the party in the province to former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) chief Bashir Memon, who joined the PML-N over a month ago.

On Nawaz Sharif’s recommendation, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif made Mr Memon president of the party’s Sindh chapter.

The appointment is seen as the result of Mr Memon’s “services” that he extended to the Sharif family as the FIA head. Mr Memon earlier said he had refused to register cases against the elder Sharif and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz, on the order of former prime minister Imran Khan.

Mr Zubair and some other party leaders have reportedly questioned Mr Memon’s credentials to lead the party in Sindh. They believe this decision would send a wrong message to the party workers in the province.

Mr Zubair refused to comment on the matter.

The PML-N also aims to shape a four-party alliance in Sindh, with the potential allies being the MQM-P, JUI-F and the Grand Democratic Alliance led by Pir Pagaro.

Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif met Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman at the Governor’s House on Wednesday to condole with him over the death of his wife and son in a traffic accident four years ago.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2023