GUJRAT: Serious differences among the party lawmakers over the local politics in Lalamusa and Wazirabad are said to be the main reason behind the cancellation of the scheduled visit of Mian Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif to the neighbouring Gujrat and Gujranwala districts on August 19.

The Sharifs had to visit the Lalamusa residence of 12-year-old boy Hamid Chughtai who was killed by a protocol vehicle of Nawaz Sharif’s cavalcade during his rally on Aug 11 whereas a public meeting was also planned for Aug 19 in Wazirabad town which Sharif’s cavalcade could not touch on the way to Lahore.

An official of the administration said all the arrangements were finalised to take the Sharifs to the house of the boy and efforts of the officials had been wasted.

As per officials and PML N sources, State Minister for Sports And Shipping Chaudhry Jaafar Iqbal had serious reservation over PML-N MPA Mian Tariq Mehmood of Dinga’s active role in arranging a settlement with the family of the deceased boy since Lalamusa falls under his (Jaafar’s) constituency of NA-106 and PP-112 constituency of another MPA Ashraf Deona also of PML-N while Mian Tariq’s constituency is PP-113 (Dinga).

They said Jaafar had lodged a strong protest with the party leadership over being ignored consistently by the senior government officials in provincial and district level administration regarding the matter of Lalamusa despite of his efforts in persuading the family of the boy for a settlement.

As per the official plan of Sharifs’ visit to the family, only Mian Tariq was to accompany them to the boy’s house that caused an alarming situation for Jaafar who took it as conspiracy of damaging his politics in the constituency and he conveyed his reservations to the party leadership.

The source said Jaafar had raised objections over the activities of Mian Tariq who he considered his rival in the constituency due to longstanding differences between them as both had previously contested elections against each other in 2002 and 2008 when Jaafar was the PML N candidate against Mian Tariq, the PML Q’s nominee then.

Even the local administration tried to arrange reconciliation between the PML N lawmakers from Gujrat on Saturday evening but the efforts could not bear any fruit so far and it was decided to seek the intervention by the senior most leadership for resolving the issues between them.

Meanwhile, similar nature of differences among the PML-N lawmakers from Wazirabad, including MNA Iftikhar Cheema and MPA Shaukat Manzoor Cheema, are said to be reason for the cancellation of the scheduled public meeting in the town on Saturday the last as both these lawmakers had previously persuaded the Sharifs to address a public rally in their town since the local party supporters were annoyed over the change of the route of Nawaz cavalcade on Aug 11.

A well-placed local source in the PML N said keeping in view the serious nature of differences among the party lawmakers in Lalamusa and Wazirabad, the Sharifs might have postponed the visit.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2017