<\/p>\n
LAHORE \/ LONDON: After in-depth discussions on the issue with the party\u2019s second-tier leadership at two separate meetings, the PML-N on Saturday declared that supreme leader Nawaz Sharif is ready to face \u201call kinds of circumstances\u201d upon his return<\/a> from London on Oct 21.<\/p>\n A day after senior leader Ishaq Dar announced<\/a> they would no longer be demanding for accountability of elements behind the elder Sharif\u2019s ouster from power, both PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz echoed the \u201cnew narrative\u201d at meetings held separately in Lahore.<\/p>\n Shehbaz Sharif told the huddle: \u201cRevival of economy, national reconciliation and elimination of terrorism will be the top agenda of PML-N to pursue on the return of Nawaz Sharif\u201d.<\/p>\n Both he and his niece Ms Nawaz categorically said that they would accept no excuse in case of any failure in putting up a good show on Nawaz\u2019s return.<\/p>\n PML-N office-bearers briefed on \u2018new narrative\u2019; will prioritise crisis-management over accountability<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Maryam Nawaz, Hamza Shehbaz, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah, Attaullah Tarar, Pervaiz Rashid, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Malik Ahmad Khan, Bilal Yasin and Saad Rafique attended the meeting.<\/p>\n Maryam Nawaz also briefed her uncle on the arrangements regarding her father\u2019s return.<\/p>\n The two reiterated that the party\u2019s \u2018new narrative\u2019 \u2014 no revenge, rather rescuing the country from crises \u2014 would be on top of Nawaz Sharif\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n At the other meeting, Ms Nawaz told the party\u2019s divisional presidents and secretary generals to achieve a \u2018certain target\u2019 in bringing the people to Minar-i-Pakistan on Oct 21.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a sense of calmness among party leaders at meetings after learning that the elder Sharif has agreed to give up his narrative seeking accountability of former generals [Qamar Bajwa and Faiz Hamid],\u201d a party insider told Dawn<\/em>.<\/p>\n He said party leaders appeared confident about the supreme leader\u2019s \u2018smooth return\u2019, hoping that he would manage to secure relief from a court of law ahead of his scheduled arrival.<\/p>\n However, participants of the meeting were told that Mr Nawaz was ready to face \u201call kinds of circumstances\u201d on his return.<\/p>\n The elder Sharif was serving<\/a> a seven-year jail-term in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case before he secured<\/a> bail on medical grounds and flew to London for treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is expected to apply for protective bail in high court a few days before returning to the country. If he gets bail, he may surrender\u2026 later on,\u201d the insider said.<\/p>\n Narrative shift<\/strong><\/p>\n A day earlier, on Friday, the party had finally announced its new narrative; that Mr Nawaz will focus on the economy and not settle old scores.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters outside Stanhope House, former finance minister Ishaq Dar said: \u201cThere are two choices: either one can fix the country or one can seek revenge and settle scores. Mian Nawaz Sharif will leave the latter to Allah.\u201d<\/p>\n There had been a storm of speculations about the narrative of PML-N ahead of elections and upon the much-anticipated return of Nawaz Sharif.<\/p>\n Mr Dar\u2019s comments came after his meeting with Mr Nawaz, and in response to a question about the party\u2019s narrative.<\/p>\n When asked if there will be accountability of Gen Bajwa, Gen Faiz among others, Mr Dar said,<\/p>\n \u201cEven in the past in 2017, Mian Nawaz Sharif left it to God. That speaks for his heart and thinking. In Pakistan\u2019s history, it has never happened before that culprits have been exposed so quickly. Late Arshad Malik, Shaukat Siddiqui and many other forms of evidence came to the fore,\u201d he said, indicating that Mr Nawaz will not be repeating the statements made in the videos.<\/p>\n \u201cHe will use his full strength to put the country on the path of progress and prosperity, and reduce the daily struggles of people,\u201d said Mr Dar, making it clear \u201cthe party leader sets the narrative\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople can have their own way of thinking. But the narrative is set by him.\u201d<\/p>\n Talking to Dawn<\/em> after listening to Mr Dar\u2019s speech, a party insider said, \u201cNawaz may want to go all guns blazing, but there is also something called a reality check. Political parties have to be careful not to misjudge, or do a miscalculation. Right now there is no other potential party to form a government other than PML-N. One can have a certain thinking, but you can\u2019t make the establishment unhappy. Especially over such a non-starter: how can you try just one or two people?\u201d<\/p>\n The PML-N leader added that the party cannot afford to antagonise the establishment as the party\u2019s popularity has fallen considerably over the last 16 months.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just Shehbaz. Can your party people take the responsibility on their shoulders of such a narrative? This we saw in 2020 when PDM was formed, after the Gujranwala speech 95pc of the party was scared to say the name Pindi,\u201d the PML-N leader said in an apparent reference to the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.<\/p>\n \u201cWere we ready to go all the way? To take the burden? No we were not.\u201d<\/p>\n Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2023<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LAHORE \/ LONDON: After in-depth discussions on the issue with the party\u2019s second-tier leadership at two separate meetings, the PML-N on Saturday declared that supreme leader Nawaz Sharif is ready to face \u201call kinds of circumstances\u201d upon his return from London on Oct 21. A day after senior leader Ishaq Dar announced they would no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2023\/10\/010733088f40c1d.jpg?r=073317","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n