ISLAMABAD: Despite their leadership’s denial of fissures, members of the main opposition party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), demand an immediate return to the country of its chief leaders, as they say, political support is declining. 

“We are losing our voter support, as neither Shahbaz Sharif nor Maryam Nawaz is leading and everyone is looking here and there at such a crucial time,” Nishat Ahmad Khan Daha, member of the Punjab Assembly’s PLM-N faction, told Arab News over the phone from Lahore on Wednesday, referring to Nawaz’s brother and daughter.

PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif has been in London since November, accompanying his brother, the party’s founder and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who was granted medical bail for treatment in the UK in October in the course of his corruption sentence. 

“Shahbaz Sharif should return to lead the party otherwise many members will join different parties like the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) for their political survival,” he said.
 
According to senior PML-N member Raja Zafar ul Haq, Shahbaz will return to Pakistan by the end of March to lead the party.” He added that reports of a major rift in the PML-N were untrue. 

Another senior PML-N member, Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan, also denied any cracks in the party’s ranks. 

“A few members talked about the immediate return of party president Shahbaz Sharif and the issue was discussed in a parliamentary meeting of the party. But there is no rift in the party, differences of opinion are part of a democratic setup,” he told Arab News.

“Nawaz Sharif is seriously ill, so how a younger brother can leave the elder brother in such situation. As a leader, Shahbaz Sharif only has to give instructions, which he’s been doing from London,” he said.

According to the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) president Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, PML-N remains under the Sharifs control, but it will not last if the leadership remains abroad.

“If Shahbaz Sharif will not come to Pakistan and lead the party with a clear line, the situation in the party will get worse. If the (leadership) void is prolonged, then many members will search for other places for their political future,” he said, adding that arguments within the party should be a wakeup call for its leadership, otherwise the cleavage will widen, and the party will lose its supporter base.

Meanwhile, not only the party’s members, but also the government wants Sharifs back, as it requested the United Kingdom to deport Nawaz for violating the medical bail conditions.

The ex-premier was granted an eight-week medical bail in October to get treatment in London. The Islamabad High Court allowed him to request an extension from the provincial authorities of Punjab, but the latter turned down his plea in February, citing insufficient legal, moral or medical grounds.