SHEIKHUPURA Javed Latif – a diehard PML-N leader – on Sunday said they had neither formed any alliance nor would go for seat adjustment with any other party in Punjab – a statement which follows reports of the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) finalising a long list of constituencies to get three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s endorsement.

Addressing a ceremony in his hometown, Latif said the PML-N hadn’t enjoyed a level-playing field – a term which is part of political debate nowadays because of the PTI’s narrative – so far and added that the party supremo was getting justice at a snail’s pace.

Anyone creating doubts about general elections wasn’t sincere to Pakistan, he remarked and stressed that Nawaz was the last ray of hope for the people of Pakistan.

He said every party deserved level-playing field, but not the one attacking sensitive installations. “The party targeting sensitive installations is a terrorist [group], not political [entity].”

“We do not take the assertions made by Bilawal [Bhutto Zardari] seriously,” said Latif, who is considered a close aide of Nawaz and believed to be regularly explaining his viewpoint on different issues.

Why they should take Bilawal’s statements when even his father [Asif Ali Zardari] didn’t do so, he remarked – a reference to the interview in which the former president had told a private TV channel that his son [the PPP chairman] was inexperienced.

These remarks were in complete contrast to the speeches delivered by Bilawal who has been presenting himself as a prime minister material.

“We will reply when Mr Zardari speaks up,” he told the gathering, adding that Zardari was used to refute Bilawal regularly.

He also advised the PPP to contest elections on the basis of its performance and said it destroyed Sindh during the 15-year-long rule in the province.

Despite Bilawal mocking Nawaz for his age and the goal to enter the Prime Minister’s House for fourth time, the Sharif brothers as well as Maryam Nawaz hasn’t responded to his daily provocations, strengthening an impression that the PPP isn’t in the contest.

Although Bilawal was initially promising to form government in Punjab and thus at the Centre as well, but the formation of IPP ruined its plans as the PTI defectors didn’t join the PPP.

In fact, the electables have been rushing towards the PML-N – a scenario that didn’t suit the PPP which was banking on electables after losing popular support thanks to the poor performance during its 2008-13 tenure.

Instead, it is the PML-N which eyes a share at national and provincial legislatures from Sindh, especially Karachi, after developing an electoral and long-term issue-based understanding with the MQM-P.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 11 2023

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