Tag: PML-N

Nawaz Sharif set to be re-elected as PML-N chief

Nawaz Sharif is set to be re- elected as the president of Pakistan’s ruling PML-N tomorrow after the party today agreed to amend its Constitution and pave the way for the ousted prime minister’s return. Sharif, 67, had to step down as the chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) after he was disqualified as...

October 3, 2017

Pakistan woman voter doesn’t exist

If the NA-120 by-election is a barometer for next year’s general elections, we should worry about female enfranchisement in Pakistan. This may seem a counterintuitive claim, given that the contest was between two women — PML-N’s Kulsoom Nawaz and PTI’s Dr Yasmin Rashid — and the media was peppered with stories about women playing a...

September 26, 2017

Signal from Lahore

The verdict in Lahore’s NA-120 by-election, the crucial seat vacated by Nawaz Sharif with his disqualification as Prime Minister by the Supreme Court, was never really in doubt. Clearly, the immediate family’s alleged involvement in the Panama case and the discord within the extended family over the succession issue have not influenced the outcome of...

September 20, 2017

Hafiz Saeed in political arena

The road to normality is paved with sighs and grimaces. A Lahore in hectic mode today is a testament to this truth. There is an election to be taken care of. At the same time, a cricket series has to be dealt with. It has to be organised smoothly, no hiccups and no bumps, for...

September 17, 2017

Shahbaz to succeed Nawaz Sharif, Abbasi as interim PM

The PML-N on Saturday decided to rally behind ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's younger brother, Shahbaz Sharif, as his eventual successor, while party leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was tapped to take over as interim Prime Minister till Shahbaz is elected to Parliament. Shahbaz's ascension to the Prime Minister's office was considered to be a foregone...

July 29, 2017

Sharif in trouble

The Prime Minister of Pakistan is under a cloud, reaffirming yet again that the civilian administration helms a failed state. Thursday's resolute refusal to resign can do but little to assuage the damage that his reputation as head of government has suffered. The Joint Investigation Team's report on the Panama papers is a suitably damning...

July 14, 2017

Cop-out verdict that pleases both sides

In a nation of some 200 million, I doubt if a handful could pinpoint Panama’s location. And yet, this tiny Central American state has dominated Pakistan’s political discourse for the last year to the point of tedium. Finally, after nearly two months of hearings before a Supreme Court bench, the verdict is here. And, as...

April 23, 2017