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PML-N’s next strategy to focus on Bajwa, Faiz, Imran and former judges

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  • PML-N inches closer to adopting aggressive narrative against five individuals.
  • Party’s focus to be on Bajwa, Faiz, Imran, Saqib Nisar and Khosa for “conspiring”to dislodge Nawaz.
  • Sources say everyone in PML-N agrees that new narrative will explain how country’s progress was halted in 2017.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is inching closer to adopting an aggressive narrative against five individuals for the economic and political chaos in the country and for bringing Pakistan to the current stage through a long-planned conspiracy.

The five individuals against whom the PML-N has started turning its guns with full ferocity are army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa, Lt General (retd) Faiz Hameed, retired judges Saqib Nisar, Asif Saeed Khosa and former prime minister Imran Khan.

Sources have confirmed that several senior figures of the party have recommended to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif that the party’s focus should be on Bajwa, Faiz, Imran , Saqib Nisar and Khosa, for being solely responsible for a conspiracy to dislodge Nawaz and his government in 2017, as well as rigging its mandate in 2018 to install Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

They said that almost everyone in PML-N agrees that attacks on these five individuals should be the new narrative of the party to explain to the people of Pakistan that the country’s progress was halted in 2017, when the Saqib Nisar-led judiciary went out of its way to expel Nawaz from electoral politics by disqualifying him for life in the Iqama case; appointing a Supreme Court monitoring judge against him and pressuring the judges to give verdicts against him, his family and colleagues.

The PML-N, said the sources, will focus on General (retd) Bajwa and Lt General (retd) Hameed for implementing a plan to bring Khan to power at all costs and this has brought Pakistan to the current stage after nearly four years of PTI’s government.

Since his ouster from power through a vote of no confidence in April 2022, former premier Khan has attacked General (retd) Bajwa – without naming him when he still held the army chief’s post and later naming him after his retirement. Khan also targetted other generals, calling them traitors, American agents and evil for not stopping the no-confidence motion against him. However, he has not said a word against General (retd) Hameed, whom he wanted to continue as the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence chief, but it was Nawaz who unleashed a storm in October 2020 when he named both General (retd) Bajwa and General (retd) Hameed in a live address from London, accusing them of ousting him from power to install Khan’s government through rigging in polls.

That narrative – of naming and shaming Bajwa and Faiz – was harshly criticised in media circles but it won support for Nawaz on the ground. However, the PML-N went quiet after coming to power in the Centre as Shehbaz Sharif became the prime minister. Now PML-N leaders are of the view that directly blaming the military establishment has won support for Khan as he had shifted all blames and wrongdoings towards his former backers while claiming innocence on his part for as long as he was in the government.

A senior leader confirmed that the new narrative was a work in progress and although the PML-N has wasted time in adopting this but now there is a feeling that this will be the permanent narrative of the party.

The senior leader confirmed: “Almost everyone is of the view that the rebranded narrative cannot succeed unless it takes the fight directly to the main characters of the political events of the last six years, who played a key role in bringing about the Tabdeeli project in the shape of Imran Khan. This is a project which could never have succeeded without full support from Saqib Nisar, General (retd) Bajwa, General (retd) Faiz Hameed and Asif Khosa. Everyone in Pakistan is aware of the role these characters played violating rules, Constitution, law and oath.”

Stung by the recent setbacks in Punjab, PML-N stalwarts have advised Nawaz that the only way forward is a constructive, aggressive approach which should minus no words in explaining to the masses what actually happened to Pakistan.

On their part, Nisar and Khosa have denied delivering political executions through their decisions. Khan maintains that he came to power after a struggle of nearly 24 years but he has accepted that the former generals Bajwa and Hameed were like pillars of strength for his party, including managing media, politics, lawmakers and votes in the upper and lower houses of parliament.

General (retd) Bajwa, through media confidantes, has said he offered every kind of support to the PTI government and Khan’s own ally Parvez Elahi has also publicly said that Bajwa and fellow generals “changed nappies” of Khan for nearly four years.

On its part, the PML-N is under criticism from its own supporters for adopting a laid back and passive approach since the ouster of Khan from power. The PML-N leadership is under attack from its supporters for not coming up with an aggressive position in response to its main rival PTI’s juggernaut, blaming the Pakistan military, the US and a “foreign conspiracy” to oust its government.

Elections

Atta Tarar’s triumph over NA-127 in the LHC is contested

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The victory of Attaullah Tarar, the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting and leader of the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) from Lahore’s NA-127 constituency in the general elections on February 8 has been contested in the Lahore High Court (LHC).

Samiullah Khan’s victory from PP-145 has also been contested. The petitions will be heard by Election Tribunal Judge Sultan Tanveer. The petitions have included the Pakistani Election Commission (ECP) and other parties as parties.

In the meantime, Attaullah Tarar stated during a discussion with Miss Zoe Ware, the Political Counselor of the British High Commission, that fake news, misinformation, and disinformation were global issues that needed to be managed.

According to the minister, fake news is the largest issue on social media, and the government is working to address it.

The conference covered a wide range of topics, including the two nations’ relationship and how to foster media collaboration. Collaboration in the drama and cinema industries was also covered.

According to Attaullah Tarar, social media verification should be adopted by journalists, and a global code of conduct for social media usage should be created.

Miss Zoe Ware thanked Attaullah Tarar on taking over as Minister of Information and Broadcasting and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) on establishing the cabinet.

She was given the assurance that the UK diplomat will work with her to promote bilateral ties between Pakistan and the UK.

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Pakistan

US commitment to resolving Pakistan’s energy crisis is prioritized

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According to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, Pakistan was assisted by the United States in producing an extra 4,000 megawatts of sustainable energy.

According to him, these kinds of initiatives have given Pakistan more capacity to produce energy, allowing it to power millions of people.

The spokesman restated that both nations will cooperate through the green alliance to address the environmental issues.

At a news briefing, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated, “Earlier, the United States advised Pakistan to halt the Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project, as engaging in business with Iran poses the risk of encountering U.S. sanctions.”

“We always advise everyone that doing business with Iran carries the risk of encountering our sanctions, and we would advise everyone to consider that very carefully,” he continued. “I’m not going to preview any potential sanctions.”

He said, “We do not support this pipeline going forward, as the Assistant Secretary made clear last week.”

The Pakistan-Iran pipeline project was approved for completion a few months ago by the caretaker administration in Pakistan. But after this permission, Pakistan received an official statement from the US expressing its worries. Pakistan again put a stop to the project’s execution when the United States expressed concerns.

Miller said, “We condemn the attack on a convoy of PRC engineers in Pakistan,” in response to a query. Miller also denounced the terrorist attack on Chinese engineers in Pakistan. We offer our sincere condolences to all impacted by the incident and are extremely saddened by the deaths and injuries incurred.

He declared, “Terrorists have caused enormous suffering to the Pakistani people, and Chinese nationals living in Pakistan have also been the targets of terrorist strikes.” Such acts of terror should not occur in any nation.

In response to a question concerning a letter from Pakistani judges, the spokesperson stated that while he had seen the letter, he had not yet conferred with his colleagues and would not be making any comments.

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Pakistan

Fazlur Rehman says the government led by Shehbaz won’t be able to deliver

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Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the head of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), expressed doubts on Wednesday over the viability of the Shehbaz Sharif administration, stating that he believes the new system will fail if citizens go to the streets.

Fazlur Rehman stated on Wednesday’s “Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath” segment of Geo News that “the parliament will likely be a rubber stamp.” There are simply too many obstacles for this government to handle. In the end, politicians will be held accountable for all of their shortcomings.”

The “crime is committed by someone else and the politicians take responsibility,” he said, calling it bizarre. The leader of JUI-F declared that his organization will demonstrate against the establishments that had turned the elections into a “game.”


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Fazl has previously said that he would abstain from the by-elections for the National Assembly and provincial assembly seats. In addition, he declared that on April 25, following Ramadan, he will start a protest campaign against the purported election manipulation from Balochistan.

“We firmly believe that there will be a rigged general election in 2024. And the factor that changed the outcome would be our aim. We reject the findings that led to the formation of this government,” he declared.

The leader of JUI-F stated that they disagreed with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa election results.

“[Earlier] the issues with the PTI were ideological and not election-related,” he said.

He stated that the party had not yet made the decision to work with the PTI. He did concede, though, that the Imran Khan-led party’s attitude has changed for the better. He remarked that it was a positive attitude and that it would not be a problem if the two parties moved together.

Fazl also revealed that he told Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister, that he thought of him as a new blue-eyed boy during their meeting.

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