Pakistan: Niece Maryam Nawaz’s defiant move stuns PM Shehbaz

Pakistan Prime Minister has his hands full and does not know how to tackle news issues cropping up. His writ has now been challenged by her niece and Punjab Chief Minister, Maryam Nawaz. She has refused to relieve a DIG of Lahore who was appointed as Islamabad IG on March 29. The Federal capital does not have a police chief on Eid as the earlier occupant of the post stands relieved.

Maryam has said the Federal government should consult the provincial government before any transfer/s. This has created a peculiar situation as Punjab is the only province ruled by Shehbaz’s party PML-N. That state has now vetoed the PM’s action, once again confirming his lame duck status as he runs a minority government with outside support from PPP of Zardari.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is run by PTI chief minister Ali Aman Gandapur, and in Sindh as also Balochistan, there are governments headed by PPP CMs. These provinces will also likely follow path shown by Maryam and not allow any decisions to be taken by PM, or his cabinet colleagues, without consulting them first. As it is, Shehbaz Sharif is clearly a second choice PM of the military establishment.

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif was expected to become PM for the 4th time after February 8 polls. However, he declined to head a minority government of his party which got only 24 per cent of the votes nationwide. PM’s post came to Shehbaz only then and that too after bargaining behind the scenes with PPP which had got only 14 per cent.

Shehbaz had visited Saudi Arabia along with select cabinet colleagues and Maryam. It is clear that even PM’s entourage was not his own selection as he had to take Punjab CM, who has defied him, with him. Maryam has already announced that parleys with the Federal government will be held only after Eid holidays.

Besides Maryam, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is an appointee of elder Sharif (Nawaz) and is a thorn in the flesh for Shehbaz. Dar has now become Senate leader of PML-N and that enhances his position. He was Finance Minister earlier and considers himself a financial wizard. As such, whenever Dar has spoken, he has spooked Shehbaz by talking of possible trade with India, IMF loans etc! Almost all things under the sun, linked to finance ministry rather than focusing on foreign affairs.

Within days of taking office, Shehbaz was forced to rescind his order on Indus River System Authority (IRSA) after opposition from PPP. Despite the killings of senior Army officers, Chinese citizens and attacks on security forces, Shehbaz chose tact over offensive. Most of these attacks have been carried out in KP and Balochistan, but he did not blame the provincial governments headed by PTI and PPP.

This strategic silence was upended by Maryam when she termed KP as “a corridor of terrorists and smugglers’’. Responding to her barb, PTI Raoof Hasan said Maryam’s father, Nawaz, was responsible for the resurgence of terrorism. Some days ago, an another embarrassment for Shehbaz, Maryam had said that the Chinese working on different projects in Pakistan resented security protocols. Her remarks had come a few days after five Chinese engineers died in a suicide attack.

Shehbaz has just completed a month of his term, and the rest of 59 promise to be eventful, going by what has happened so far. No PM in Pakistan has, till date, completed a five-year tenure in Pakistan. Will Shehbaz be able to negotiate all minefields and accomplish this unprecedented feat?