Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PMLN) supremo Nawaz Sharif will have to reconsider his narrative because this could disturb whatever working relationship his brother has developed with the army over the past couple of years, says senior journalist Aamir Ghauri.
Speaking on Naya Daur TV’s flagship show ‘Khabar Say Aagay (Beyond the Headlines)’, Ghauri argued that it was still unclear whether Nawaz Sharif was acceptable to the establishment or not.
“Given the current scenario, it appears that his brother Shehbaz Sharif had to rush back to London hours after returning to Pakistan last week because Nawaz Sharif’s speech against certain officers of the army and some of the judges had likely upset the powers that be and they had sent Shehbaz to London with a stern message”, Ghauri said.
Commenting on Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s supposed attempts to make a new party, Ghauri said that the former PM, along with his friends Miftah Ismail and Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, had been accepting his own failures from the ‘Reimagining Pakistan’ platform for more than a year now.
“What they don’t realise is that by accepting their failures so openly, they were also making people think why these ‘failures’ should be voted back into power when they had clearly failed in their previous stints”, Ghauri added.
Mubasher Bukhari, senior journalist from Lahore, was convinced that Shahid Khaqan, Miftah and Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar were independent operators.
“I can’t rule out the possibility the military backing of a platform that had, out of nowhere, had brought so many people together from various political parties of the country. I think the establishment is backing Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. This situation is very similar to 2018 when Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had been promised support by the establishment. Nothing came out of it. But if they back Shahid Khaqan, who knows what that might mean for the fortunes of this party”, Bukhari said.
Raza Rumi hosts Beyond the Headlines Monday to Saturday 9 PM on Naya Daur TV.