Report in The Nation, November 22, 2023
ISLAMABAD\LAHORE – Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday held discussions on current political scenario with Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the chief of Jamiat Ulema Islam Fazl (JUI-F). After arriving at Rehman’s residence in Islamabad both the former prime ministers extended condolences to Rehman over the sad demise of his mother-in-law. Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Hydari, Ishaq Dar, Maulana Asad Mehmood, and Engineer Ziaur Rahman attended the meeting.
Senior PML-N leader and former Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Tuesday said his party would not respond to Bilawal’s diatribe against the PML-N leadership in a similar fashion because it did not want to escalate bitterness in politics.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Sanaullah explained, “The PML-N does not want to increase the bitterness; that’s why we are not responding to Bilawal’s [criticism] in his own diction.” He even sought to justify Bilawal’s harsh criticism by attributing it to the political necessity of PPP to attract the anti-PML-N vote through an anti-PML-N narrative. Bilawal in his recent speeches launched a diatribe branding PML-N as the “Mehangai [inflation] league” and accusing Nawaz Sharif of preferential treatment from the caretaker government. Sanaullah said that PML-N would not adopt a similarly confrontational approach to Bilawal’s criticism as he underscored the need for collaboration for the country’s betterment, citing the restraint exercised by both parties during their alliance in the previous coalition government led by the PML-N. ….
Highlighting the party’s past success in South Punjab, Sanaullah mentioned that in 2013, 34 out of 46 seats were held by the Muslim League-N, expressing confidence that this time they would win more than 40 seats. Trusted and influential personalities from South Punjab are aligning with the PML-N, with recent joinings from figures such as Sami-ul-Hasan Gilani, Syed Mubeen Ahmed, Syed Mehsud Alam, and Syed Mubin Zaman. …..
https://www.nation.com.pk/E-Paper/lahore/2023-11-22/page-1/detail-1
