LAHORE: Just a day after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shahbaz Sharif quit the chairmanship of the all-powerful Public Accounts Committee, the party leadership on Friday nominated Maryam Nawaz as party’s vice president despite her conviction in the Avenfield corruption case besides filling almost all other party positions.

The PML-N president and opposition leader in the National Assembly issued the list of new appointees from London after consulting former premier Nawaz Sharif and other key leaders in Lahore.

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who is being tipped as the new opposition leader if Mr Shahbaz opted to extend his stay in London on ‘medical grounds’, has been nominated as the sole senior vice-president of the PML-N, while Ahsan Iqbal has finally been appointed as PML-N secretary general. Earlier, he had the acting charge of this post.

Khawaja Asif not among top office-bearers, Maryam made a vice president of party

Senator Mushahidullah Khan, who was removed from the post of central information secretary and replaced by Marriyum Aurangzeb with the office of the party spokesperson, has been given office of the party’s vice-president along with 15 others.

Interestingly, ex-minister Ishaq Dar, a proclaimed offender living in London, has been appointed PML-N president for international affairs.

The surprise inclusion in the list of new office-bearers is that of Maryam Nawaz, daughter of the party supremo. The leadership decided to appoint her as PML-N vice-president ignoring any legal aspect related to her disqualification and conviction by the court in the Avenfield reference. Currently on bail, she has been active on the social networking site of Twitter.

Mr Shahbaz, who said goodbye to the offices of PAC chairman and parliamentary leader in the National Assembly because he wanted to ‘unburden’ himself (a justification his party gave earlier) has been given portfolio in the PML-N economic advisory council along with Dar, Mr Abbasi, Mr Iqbal, Khawaja Mohammad Asif, Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, Mohammad Zubair, Miftah Ismail, Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, Mushahid Hussain Syed, Musaddik Malik, Ali Pervez Malik (son of close aide to the Sharif’s Pervez Malik) and Bilal Azhar Kiyani.

PML-N’s outspoken lea­d­er Rana Sanaullah manages to get an important pos­i­­tion in the party by becoming president of the party’s Punjab chapter. The post had been vacant since the elevation of Mr Shahbaz to the president office over a year ago. Former minister Sardar Awais Leghari was appointed PML-N Punjab general secretary, while an­other firebrand leader Azma Bokhari was appointed Punjab information secretary.

Hanif Abbasi, Raja Ateeq Sarwar, Hafiz Nauman, Khawaja Salman Rafique and Raja Qamar were made Punjab chapter vice presidents.

The PML-N also filled the party positions in Sindh with the appointment of Miftah Ismail as general secretary; Ali Akbar Gujjar as senior vice president.

Salman Ali Khan was made PML-N’s Karachi president and Nasiruddin Mehmood the city’s general secretary.

Tariq Fatemi, who lost his advisership in the previous PML-N government in the wake of the news leak scandal, was made PML-N policy and research secretary.

Besides Hamza Shahbaz, several PML-N stalwarts were also accommodated in the latest reshuffle as they were given the office of the party’s central vice president. They include Abid Sher Ali, Ayaz Sadiq, Chaudhry Barjees Tahir, Dr Darshan Lal Punchi, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Khurram Dastgir, Mian Javed Latif, Muhammad Zubair, Mushahidullah Khan, Nelson Azeem, Pervaiz Rasheed, Raheela Durrani and Rana Tanveer Hussain and Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan.

Former minister Baleeghur Rahman and Shahbaz Sharif’s spokesman Attaullah Tarar got the portfolio of central deputy secretary generals. The office of assistant secretary generals was given to Bilal Azhar Kiyani, Farhan Zafar Jhagra and Sorath Thebo. Interestingly, the outspoken leader Talal Chaudhry managed to get the office of joint secretary along with Abbas Afridi.

Noorul Hassan Tanvir was made PML-N international affairs general secretary.

MNA Pervez Malik was appointed as finance secretary, Shaza Fatima Khawaja as parliamentary affairs secretary, Ayesha Raza Farooq as membership and training secretary and Romina Khursheed Alam as civil society secretary.

The leadership also filled key positions in other wings of the party. Riazul Haq was nominated as Kisaan wing president, Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh as business and commerce wing president, Mian Mannan as traders’ wing president, Musaddik Malik as professionals wing president, Nuzhat Amir Sadiq as women wing president, Kamran Michael as party’s minority wing president and Ramesh Singh Arora as minority wing general secretary.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2019