Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A fast growing pressure group within the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is now putting itself in order against Finance Minster Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz.

According to the sources, the pressure group consists of members of the National Assembly and has the backing of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

The sources told Daily Times that the pressure group came into being due to rude behaviour of three big guns that are enjoying the power — Dar, Asif and Maryam – in the absence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The complaints of the pressure group have also come to the surface. There are reports that ruling lawmakers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southern Punjab wanted to get special packages for farmers of their constituencies in the recently announced budget as part of their preparations for the next general election, but the federal finance minister did not pay any attention to their demands.

In addition, some MNAs from the ruling party waved to the finance minister and asked him to wait at the main gate of the Parliament House on the day of the budget session, but the finance minister was in deep thoughts and he ignored them. They felt embarrassed and embraced the pressure group. Maryam was busy in a meeting with State Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and Daniyal Aziz at Prime Minister’s House when four MNAs reached there and sought time for a meeting with her, but she refused outright to meet them. These four members of parliament were disappointed and they also joined the pressure group.

During the budget session, the ruling lawmakers also noted the rude behaviour of Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, as he turned his face to other side after seeing Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. On that occasion, an MNA also told Asif that God did not like bad mannered people. A growing number of the ruling members of the parliament seems happy after recovery of misplaced bags of ballot papers belonging to Asif’s constituency. Apparently the credit for the pressure group is being given to the interior minister, but as a matter of fact the members who were fed up with the misbehaviour of Dar, Asif and Maryam formed the group. Most of the ruling lawmakers seem unhappy with the misuse of power by the “big three”. The sources however said that the Punjab chief minister and the interior minister were supporting the pressure group very tactfully. The Punjab chief minister gave a proposal to the federal finance minister that the dissident lawmakers should be invited to an iftar dinner. However, the members of the pressure group refused to attend the iftar dinner hosted by the finance minister. It is pertinent to mention here that Dar, Asif and Maryam are not only using full powers of the prime minister, but also enjoying prime minister’s full protocol.

A ruling lawmaker from southern Punjab told this reporter that ruling members of parliament were waiting for prime minister’s return anxiously because they were feeling ignored in his absence. He said that prime minister’s all powers had been transferred to the aforementioned three people. “Some people are underestimating the strength of the pressure group. If our voice is not heard, the nation will see how many people are with us. If the prime minister delays his return to the country from London, more people will join our group,” he said.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is currently recovering from his open-heart surgery in London. He is likely to stay there for a couple of weeks.