PESHAWAR: It might prove to be a tough task for PML-N to materialise its planned protest movement against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in the province after Eidul Fitr due to the party’s internal differences.

The differences further deepened on Sunday when details of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz central leader MNA Daniyal Aziz’s press conference appeared in media, stating that a mass contact campaign would be launched after Eidul Fitr.

Apparently Mr Aziz announced the plan in support of local government nazims, but it seems to be directed at countering PTI’s possible sit-in in August against the federal government.

Local leader terms Daniyal’s call for protest movement his personal agenda

The plan of agitation against the KP government was announced by Mr Aziz in Peshawar on Saturday, but his party’s local leadership was not ready to act accordingly.

Talking to this correspondent here on Sunday, PML-N provincial senior vice-president Waqif Khan said that it was personal agenda of Mr Aziz and the party’s provincial chapter had nothing to do with it. Aziz is not serious to materialize his announcement otherwise he is bound to take the provincial leadership into confidence and ensure presence of local leadership in his press conference.

“We have nothing to do with Daniyal Aziz because protest movements are launched only on the directives of top leadership so as to achieve the required objectives,” Mr Khan said.

The leaguer said that Mr Aziz was accompanied only by Shangla district nazim Niaz Muqam, but he could not force the party’s provincial organisation to obey whatever he had planned for his own projection.

“We have planned to reorganise the party at the provincial level and for this purpose contacts with workers will be initiated after Eidul Fitr to strengthen it to that extent that our candidates could win future elections,” he observed.

He said that Mr Aziz was from another province and could not run a campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa unless local workers extended him support and thus he was bound to take them on board before making such an announcement. He could contact the workers through Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, he added.

Mr Khan said that such announcements could further damage the party because PTI would also take it as failure of PML-N if protest rallies were not held in the province. He said that the PML-N workers were supposed to work under a discipline and they were not bound to obey anyone like Daniyal Aziz to sit or stand on his directives.

“Being a provincial vice-president I demand of the party president, Nawaz Sharif, to take notice of the untimely announcement made by Daniyal Aziz as it has created misunderstanding and unrest among the party workers,” he said.

Besides, Mr Khan pointed out that a group of internally displaced persons of Khyber Agency had set up a protest camp outside the Peshawar Press Club, but Mr Aziz did not bother to visit it and as a result the tribal people chanted slogans against the federal government and PML-N.

Efforts were made to get the version of PML-N provincial president Pir Sabir Shah, but he could not be contacted on phone. However, another provincial level leader said that Mr Aziz had come to Peshawar on the invitation of Amir Muqam’s son Niaz Ahmed and the other group ‘of senior workers’ had nothing to do with it.

He said that the party was facing internal differences and its priority would be intra-party elections to elect office-bearers because the incumbent body had already completed its tenure in Dec 2015.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2016