PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, with a plan to appease the discontented leaders in his party, will visit Karachi on January 2, 2012, his second visit to the city in the last couple of weeks.This announcement has come just days after Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) held a massive rally in Karachi. The PTI’s rally is being lauded as a potential turning point in Sindh’s political landscape, and has, according to some, threatened to encroach on the vote bank of the traditionally influential political parties in the province.
Just a day before the rally, in what was also a big setback for the PML-N, veteran politician and democrat Javed Hashmi announced that he was leaving Sharif’s party because of grievances with the leadership.
In what could be interpreted as a response to these recent setbacks, Nawaz plans to convene a PML-N workers convention where he will address any reservations of the party’s workers. This information was disclosed to The News by the Chief Coordinator of the PML-N Sindh, Saleem Zia.
He said that PLM-N’s top leadership has already started visiting all four provinces in an attempt to mobilise its workers. He added that Sharif himself recently visited Khyber-Pakhtunwa and that his arrival in Karachi was scheduled for January 2. When asked whether he (Sharif) would contact Javed Hashmi, Zia said that this decision would have to be taken by the top leadership.
Saleem said the PML-N’s top brass was planning on holding intra-party elections in all provinces and will visit Punjab on January 4 and Balochistan on January 6. There appear to be differences within the PML-N’s Sindh chapter, a fact that was made evident during Sharif’s last visit to Karachi due to the conspicuous absence of some leaders, including Sardar Rahim. Additionally, Syed Ghous Ali Shah was recently made PML-N’s president in Sindh at the expense of annoying some senior leaders.
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