LAHORE: Seasoned politician Mian Atta Muhammad Maneka, who tendered his resignation as Punjab Revenue Minister a week ago, sees doomsday for the PML-N if the Sharif family is disqualified by the Supreme Court in the Panama case.

“The N-League will stand virtually disbanded if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other family members are disqualified by the Supreme Court,” Mr Maneka said in an interview to a television channel on Friday.

In reply to a question, he said Mr Sharif’s removal would weaken the party as many “electables” were likely to abandon it even if the prime minister, and no one else, was disqualified.

He denied that he was in touch with other disgruntled legislators within the party or those like Sardar Zulfikar Khosa, who had already quit it.

He said that Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of the prime minister, was not competent enough to replace her father as party leader or as prime minister.

According to him, Hamza, the son of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, had more leadership qualities than Maryam.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2017