Safdar's suspension alerts PML-N 'pressure groups'
30 July, 2012
LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif's decision to suspend the membership of Capt (r) Safdar, on Sunday, stunned pressure groups and individuals, who had recently been disagreeing with the party policies and leadership, the party sources said. Sources said that Safdar, being a member of the Sharif family and in charge of PML-N Youth Wing, was an influential and active political figure among the party workers, but he had disagreed with the party's core members like Pir Sabir Shah and Sardar Mehtab Abbasi, who had remained more loyal to the Sharifs than others, during their exile. The sources believe that the reasons behind the suspension were Safdar's impolite and irresponsible statements against PML-N Vice President Sardar Mehtab Khan Abbasi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa President Pir Sabir Shah, and his encouraging divisions within the party. The sources believed that Safdar had been criticising Sardar Mehtab and Pir Sabir Shah and constituted a group within the party to oppose them in naming of the party office-bearers. The party sources said that Capt (r) Safdar accepted his father-in-law's decision and believed it was for the betterment of political and disciplinary issues within the party. Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Nawaz's daughter and an active PML-N Women Wing leader, also agreed with the matter. According to the PML-N sources, Nawaz had set lofty and formidable example for lobby-cum-pressure groups like Khosas (Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa and Dost Muhammad), Khawajas (Khawaja Asif, Khawaja Saad and Khawaja Salman), Chaudhrys (Chaudhry Nisar and Ahsan Iqbal), Ranas (Rana Iqbal, Rana Mashood and Rana Sanaullah) and others within the party who were emerging and getting powerful day by day. The sources said Nawaz had successfully killed two birds with one stone, since the decision not only gained him the sympathies of his loyals but also warned inside lobbies and critics of their 'out-of-the-box' criticism and activities. Sources said that Dost Mohammad Khosa, former Punjab CM and son of Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa had some differences with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and was trying to form an independent group within the party in Punjab Assembly. Khosa had also showed his group's power by holding a meeting in the assembly secretariat with seven MPAs a couple of weeks ago, the sources said. PML-N sources also informed of some family differences between Safder and Hamza Shahbaz Sharif. The sources said that due to such differences, Safdar was not allowed to join any ceremony or meeting held at the CM Secretariat. Sources said that some in the Sharif family believed that Safdar had been responsible for inciting the Hamza Shahbaz and Aysha Ahad Malik issue. They said that some heads of the family had also expressed their views publicly, saying that they knew who it was from the family that was behind the issue. Maryam Nawaz Sharif clarified that such step of her father had negated the notion that PML-N was a family party or patronised favouritism. Maryam said she was glad that Safdar (her husband) had taken this decision positively and vowed to abide by the party rules and regulations. To clarify the issue had no bearing on family matters, Maryam said, "Thankfully, we as a family keep politics and family matters separate." She said she was proud of her father's decision and advised others to follow it. End.
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