The leadership of PML-N has failed to arrive at an agreement about whether the party should join the Azadi March of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).
The party leaders have however agreed to follow whatever decision former prime minister Nawaz Sharif makes regarding the matter.
According to a report in Dawn, the meeting was presided over by PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif, while Khwaja Asif, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Hanif Abbassi were the prominent members of the party who attended the meeting. The meeting reportedly lasted for five hours, and Shahbaz Sharif himself did not give his view on the issue and listened to the inputs of other leaders.
A source informed media that some party members were hesitant to join the Azadi March as they were not sure how the opposition would achieve its goal of toppling the government when Maulana Fazl himself was not sure about staging the sit-in for an indefinite period. They added that a failure in this matter would further ‘push the opposition against the wall’.
Moreover, Maulana’s failure to come up with a clear agenda for his protest also came under discussion, with party leaders saying that there was no point in joining the protest if they were not given a complete plan of the protest.
There were also members who were in favour of joining the march, arguing that the party may concede political ground if it did not join it. They argued that currently, the public was against the PTI for its ‘anti-people’ policies, hence PML-N should join the march as it would have no issue in mobilising people.
Meanwhile, Shahbaz Sharif informed the participants that he would make Nawaz Sharif aware of their opinions in his next meeting with the latter in Kot Lakhpat jail, adding that Nawaz Sharif would take the final decision.