ISLAMABAD, Sept 12: The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) has decided to take strict disciplinary action against local party leaders and office-bearers for their failure to mobilise the people to accord a warm welcome to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on his return to the country on Sept 10.
A meeting of the party, presided over by PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq, was addressed by party president Shahbaz Sharif by telephone from London.
Talking to Dawn, PML-N’s additional secretary-general Chaudhry Jaffar Iqbal said a meeting of the Central Working Committee would be convened after the release of main leaders of party from detention. The meeting would hold accountable the people who were assigned various duties in connection with the mobilisation of workers and the general public, he added.
Mr Iqbal said the party leadership had taken note of mismanagement and lack of coordination. Sources said Mian Shahbaz Sharif in his address expressed displeasure over the poor arrangements made by the local leadership. They said that he was also upset over media reports that no PML-N worker made any serious attempt to reach the Islamabad airport on Sept 10.
The sources said Mr Sharif was also angry over reports that most PML-N leaders were arrested while resting in their homes and none of them could even cross Zero Point in Islamabad which was about 15 kilometres from the airport.
Political experts also hold local leadership of the party responsible for the poor turnout because they relied only on media and did not go to the masses.
“The PML-N leaders arranged about one dozen press conferences in three days before Sept 10 only to tell the media that one million people would reach the airport, despite strict security measures taken by the government,” said an expert, adding, “so much so that the person who was appointed as main coordinator of the whole programme preferred to attend a live talk show on a private TV channel at the time when Nawaz Sharif was still at the airport negotiating with officials of law enforcement agencies.
Chaudhry Jaffar Iqbal, however, denied that Shahbaz Sharif made any mention of mismanagement on the part of the local party leadership. Instead, he said, the party chief praised party workers for suffering police brutalities and encouraged them.
Acting PML-N president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, MNA Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, information secretary Ahsan Iqbal and some other party leaders are still under detention.
According to a party handout, PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq said at the meeting that “for the first time in the country’s history, the party confronted the establishment and stood for the rights of the people.”
Meanwhile, a meeting of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) on Wednesday decided to hold a ‘consultative meeting’ of all leaders, representatives of civil society and lawyers on Sept 17 to chalk out its future line of action.
According to MMA leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, the meeting was attended by Raja Zafarul Haq, Imran Khan, Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Rasool Bakhsh Palejo.
