LAHORE, May 16: The Punjab government is working on causing more defections in the PML-N after Ahad Malik who defected to the ruling PML-Q following a meeting with Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi on Sunday.
Sources privy to the process say PML-N's new entrants to the political arena are being specially targeted for the purpose. The government is presently focusing on two MPAs -- Mehr Ishtiaq Ahmad from Lahore and Yawar Zaman from Okara -- both elected for the first time in 2002 general elections.
It is for this reason that the two, though unknown in political circles, are being kept lodged in jails after their arrests before the landing of exiled PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif at Lahore airport on May 11, the sources claim.
Central chief coordinator Ahsan Iqbal and Data Gunj Bakhsh Town Nazim Khwaja Hassaan Ahmad are also behind bars and work on them is going on, they add. It may be mentioned that diehard and veterans of the PML-N like Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Zulfikar Ali Khosa had been bailed out.
MPA Ahad Malik's defection has alarmed the PML-N leadership which has directed party loyalists to keep a close liaison with the captives and their families to boost their morale to brave government's pressure tactics, it is learnt.
The leadership is also concerned at the diminishing morale of party activists on apprehensions that after the failed attempt of Mr Shahbaz the Sharifs perhaps would never be able to enter Pakistan as long as Gen Musharraf is ruling the roost.
It fears that the impression, if allowed to persist, may cause widespread defections. Acknowledging the fact that the situation created by the government in the wake of Shahbaz's arrival is more to be blamed for the poor show by PML-N activists on May 11, the leadership is also holding local leaders, especially the Lahore-based ones, responsible for failing to chalk out a plan to welcome their exiled leader and thwarting government's moves contrary to it.
Each MPA had been given the target to bring along with him at least 500 supporters for the welcome show but most of them failed to do so, party leaders told this reporter.
People coming from the other towns and provinces had also not been briefed about the policy to court arrest on the day and those PML-N leaders who had never been active during the last four years immediately appeared on the scene and courted arrest, they said.
Perhaps, they were under the impression that Shahbaz was coming under a deal with Gen Musharraf and this would be a good opportunity to show their 'loyalties' and 'sacrifices' for the party to reap future dividends, they regretted.
They alleged that some local leaders had quoted highly exaggerated figures to the senior party leadership about the likely turnout of activists in Lahore on May 11. The local leaders also failed to plan and organize even a single demonstration after the forced deportation of Mr Shahbaz, they regretted.
