ISLAMABAD: Less than a week after the dissolution of the National Assembly to pave for general elections, PML-N Senior Vice President and Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz has sprung into action, galvanising supporters to prepare for polls which “will not take too long”.

She had kept a low profile for the past couple of months and instead kept herself busy in party affairs along with her father Nawaz Sharif whom she visited and stayed with in Dubai last month. As elections approach, her focus is on the party’s youth wing – which she has been trying to rejuvenate since taking over the party chief organiser’s office.

In Islamabad on Tuesday, she held a meeting of the ‘youth wing’ of the party, with a particular aim to revitalise the former ruling party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. During the meeting, interviews were held for the nomination of the youth coordinators in seven KP districts wherein nominees were considered from Bannu, Hazara, Dera Ismail Khan, Peshawar, Mardan, Malakand, and Kohat divisions.

Ex-MNA says PML-N is ready for polls

It was decided that the youth organising committees of KP would function under the supervision of the provincial youth organisation committees of the party. The PML-N had established a youth organising committee in KP and Maryam Nawaz was nominated as its chairperson. PML-N Central Assistant General Secretary Bilal Azhar Kiani was appointed as secretary of the youth organising committee. The other members included Ikhtiar Wali, Bilawal Afridi, and Babar Nawaz.

Former PML-N minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry told Dawn that through meetings Maryam Nawaz has given a message that the PML-N was ready for elections.

“I don’t know about the date of the elections as it will be announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan. However, the party has started mobilising workers and reorganising the party in all four provinces. It is a message that we are ready for the general elections and workers are active,” he said.

At the start of this year, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif appointed Maryam Nawaz as the senior vice president of the PML-N, authorising her to “reorganise” the party “at all functional levels”.

“Pursuant to the powers conferred under the constitution of the PML-N, the undersigned is pleased to appoint Maryam Nawaz Sharif as senior vice president with immediate effect,” the PML-N notification issued in Jan said. It further added that Maryam was “authorised to re-organise the party at all functional tiers/levels as chief organiser”.

In March, she had also filed nomination papers for four provincial assembly seats, three in Lahore and one in Gujranwala. The elections announced for April 30 could not be held, however.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2023