LAHORE : Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, arrived in Quetta on Tuesday (Nov 14) to forge new alliances and strengthen his party’s organization in Balochistan, as the three-time prime minister, despite his disqualification, seeks a fourth term in power.
Nawaz, regarded as the comeback man, is certain of reclaiming power following his conviction in the NAB cases, doing what many believed would be impossible, just as he did during his first exile when Pervez Musharraf exiled him to Saudi Arabia.
PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif will be accompanied by Maryam Nawaz, the party’s main organizer, on his three-day tour to Balochistan, where he is anticipated to reach a seat-adjustment agreement with the (BAP), which is presently led by Khalid Magsi.
The Balochistan-based party had split from the government alliance led by the PTI, setting the way for the victory of a no-confidence resolution, which pushed Shehbaz to the prime minister’s office for a 16-month term.
The anticipated agreement with the BAP comes after the PML-N achieved a similar pact with the MQM-P last week in Sindh, where talks are underway to expand the electoral partnership to other parties such as Pir Pagara’s PML-F and the JUI-F.
Nawaz is also anticipated to meet with around 20 major political heavyweights, with some of them joining the PML-N and bolstering the party’s chances in the February 8 general election.
The visit is also significant symbolically since it was in Balochistan that his government’s demise began following a shift in party loyalty and shifting alliances terminated the tenure of the then-chief minister, Sanaullah Zehri.
Both Zehri and Lt-Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch quit the PML-N and eventually joined the PPP after criticizing Nawaz and his policies following his accusation that the establishment was plotting to destabilize his government, conviction, and the contentious elections in 2018.