Nawaz Sharif as party chief again

May 29, 2024 2:26 am

After more than six years, former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been re-elected as the president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). He was elected president unopposed in the party council on Tuesday.

No other PML-N leader has filed nomination papers against the party chief for the top post, Geo News reported. As a result, Nawaz’s papers were approved for the election of the party president.

Pakistan political analyst Mazhar Abbas told Geo News that Nawaz was expected to take over the PML-N.

Pointing out that the PML-N is facing various challenges in Punjab, Abbas said it remains to be seen which way Nawaz will lead as party president.

Quoting party sources, The News reported that the election date for Nawaz Sharif’s party president has been fixed on an important day. May 28 is celebrated as Youm-e-Takbir Day. On this day in 1998, Pakistan responded to India’s nuclear tests when Nawaz was prime minister.

On this occasion, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif declared the day (May 28) as a public holiday through a notification on Monday.

Incidentally, on July 28, 2017, Nawaz lost both the prime ministership and the post of his party president as a result of the Panama Papers scandal verdict. Since then, Nawaz’s younger brother and current Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has been leading the party.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif resigned as party chief on May 13 to install his elder brother Nawaz Sharif as president.

Earlier, in a press conference in Lahore, PML-N Punjab President Rana Sanaullah said, ‘Senior leaders have agreed on making Nawaz Sharif the president in the last party meeting. Most of the leaders in the meeting felt that Nawaz Sharif was a victim of political revenge in 2018. He was removed from the party president’s office through a conspiracy.’

Nawaz Sharif returned to the country last October after being in voluntary exile for four years. After getting bail in all the cases in the High Court, he returned home from UK.