THE chief is officially back in charge. As part of the long-pending election of office-bearers of the PML-N, de facto head Nawaz Sharif has been declared party president after 10 years. The PML-N's convention in Islamabad on Wednesday, where appointments were announced and Mr Sharif spoke about his agenda, was important for clues about the internal functioning of the country's most significant opposition party and its future direction. While these 'elections' were hardly democratic — a general feature of Pakistan's political parties, and not specific to the PML-N — they indicate that there is perhaps more space for debate in this party than in some others. No secretary general was announced, suggesting that Mr Sharif's personal preferences are not being allowed to overshadow internal disagreements on the appointment. And despite his public criticism of some party decisions, Javed Hashmi was made a senior vice-president, suggesting there is room for dissent within the ranks. But while these are encouraging signs, what the party still seems to lack is a proactive programme for the country. As he did during his recent campaigning in Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Mr Sharif was quick to list a number of complaints against the government. A one-point agenda of bashing the current set-up may strike a populist note at a time when there is broad and deep dissatisfaction about corruption and poor governance, but the PML-N will not have matured as a political party until it offers its own vision, backed by policy proposals, for the country. Mr Sharif did soften his stance on the creation of new provinces, declaring that this should be done for administrative, although not nationalist, reasons. He mentioned the importance of upholding the Charter of Democracy and strengthening civilian oversight of intelligence organisations and the military, and declared that he was not afraid of political isolation if that was the result of upholding certain principles. But to bring about change, principles must be enacted through policy. Mr Sharif's speech still sounded disappointingly like criticism for the sake of it and lacked specifics about how the PML-N would shape a different Pakistan.