Lahore:
The president of PML-N Nawaz Sharif, who should once recover the political reins when he returned highly publicized before the general elections, remains obviously on the outskirts.
Despite a full-fledged PML-N government at the helm, Nawaz has chosen to stay behind the curtain, largely ignoring burning national problems, including Balutchistan.
Triple Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who returned to Pakistan in 2023 after a five-year-old self-imposed exile in London, widely considered as an offer calculated to bypass the prison, has since kept a low profile, away from the political show despite the fact that his party forms the government.
Many consider this retreat as part of the Calm Pact of the PML-N with the Establishment, an attempt to find the reins of energy without shaking the boat.
However, in the ranks of the parties, there is an increasing discomfort that the prolonged absence of Nawaz of the bar, although it was considered the ideological glue holding the base of the PML-N, could prove expensive if the political playground was really leveled.
Once the undisputed Lodestar of the party, Nawaz has now decreased in the bottom at the point where a designated spokesperson is even missing, turning into one of the most elusive figures in the local media.
According to the media, Nawaz was to return to Pakistan this Thursday. But when the Express PK Press Club contacted two party leaders, none had any idea of its travel route.
The usual help of the party – Nawaz brand image as “direct strength” behind central decisions – began to wear a slim. He even returned against him recently when the Minister of Punjab, Azma Bukhari, credited Nawaz to “supervise planning and the execution of war”, which made the ridicule and transforming it into jokes.
Interestingly, Nawaz has not spoken to local media since his return to Pakistan. However, during his frequent trips to London, he appeared more comfortable, engaging freely with journalists based there.
A senior Punjab party official told L’Express PK Press Club that the PML-N is giving more and more political space to the establishment, an approach he warned would have serious consequences in the future. “Now we can enjoy driving on the establishment’s cattage tails, but tomorrow, when command will change, we will feel the warmth of our blunders,” he said.
The chief stressed that Nawaz Sharif had to enter the political scrum to keep the party alive. “At this stage, the PML-N is stuck between two administrators, Maryam and Nawaz. The two lack political maturity. Everyone in the party knows its real value.”
“We thrive to think about the day when the establishment abandons us. We have no feasible story to reach out to the inhabitants of Punjab.”
