ISLAMABAD: Nawaz Sharif, three-time former prime minister of Pakistan, was on Tuesday elected unopposed as the president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party after a hiatus of six years, the PML-N said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif resigned as the PML-N president earlier this month saying it was time for his elder brother to “resume his rightful place” as the party’s leader.
Sharif, who founded the PML-N in 1993, stepped down as its president in 2018 after the Supreme Court ruled that an individual disqualified under Articles 62 and 63 of the constitution, which outline the rules for qualification and disqualification for parliamentarians, could not serve as the head of a political party.
Around 3,500 members of the PML-N’s general council and senior leadership attended a party meeting in Lahore, at which the PML-N chief election commissioner, Rana Sanaullah, announced Sharif’s election as the party chief which was endorsed by the gathering.
“Call those who decided that Sharif was disqualified forever as today, I am standing before you again,” Sharif said, while addressing the PML-N general council meeting after his election. “These party general council members are our assets and remain steadfast during a difficult time.”
Sharif congratulated his party’s members and his younger brother for steadfastly holding onto the party banner through tribulations, and urged the prime minister to turn around Pakistan’s situation, noting that the PML-N had always delivered and brought the country out of troubled times.
“Inflation is coming down, the stock exchange is going up, and despite the current difficult 2-3 years, a prosperous time for Pakistan is on the horizon,” he said.
Addressing the general council meeting, PM Shehbaz felicitated his elder brother on reassuming the party presidency, saying the responsibility and trust given to him were returned to its “rightful owner” today.
“Allah has now restored your position and respect with this great majority,” the Pakistan premier said, adding that the “injustice committed in 2017” had been undone.
Sharif was disqualified as prime minister by the Supreme Court in July 2017, which declared him “dishonest” for not disclosing a separate monthly income from a company owned by his son. The court also ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to open a criminal trial into the ownership of London flats and several other revelations about the ex-PM’s family wealth disclosed in the Panama Papers’ leaks.
A year later, following the investigations ordered by the court, Sharif was sentenced to 10 years in prison for corrupt practices linked to his family’s purchase of the upscale London flats and subsequently to seven years in jail in a separate case for being unable to prove the source of income that had led to his ownership of a steel mill in Saudi Arabia. Sharif has since been acquitted in both cases, which he always maintained were politically motivated.
As Sharif faced a slew of cases, Shehbaz Sharif, his younger brother, subsequently became president of the PML-N but had always maintained it was a temporary arrangement until his brother was exonerated by the courts.
After being jailed in 2018, Sharif flew to London in 2019 after a court allowed him to leave for medical treatment, on the condition he returned when fit. However, he went into exile and ran his party affairs from London, while former cricketer Imran Khan ruled as prime minister until April 2022, when he was ousted in a parliamentary vote of no confidence.
Shehbaz took over after Khan and became prime minister for 16 months ahead of general elections on Feb. 8, after which he once again came to power in March and became premier and is now ruling Pakistan through a fragile coalition with smaller parties.
Sharif returned from exile to Pakistan in October last year in a chartered jet, surrounded by supporters and journalists.
Speaking to Arab News, PML-N Secretary-General Ahsan Iqbal said Sharif’s election as the PML-N president would bring “new energy and life” to the party as his leadership had been instrumental in transforming the party into a “popular and dynamic political force” in the country.
“His election also reverses the injustice and wrong done to him in 2017 at the hands of the establishment of that time, when he was removed from the office of prime minister and president PMLN through false cases,” Iqbal said.
He said the “unconstitutional judgments” of the courts had recently vindicated Sharif’s innocence. “His stature and experience will be a big asset for the party and the country,” Iqbal added.
Political analysts termed Sharif’s election a “significant boost” to the ruling party and Sharif himself to engage actively in the country’s politics.
“It will be very significant as the elder Sharif finally has a formal role now,” Aasiya Riaz, a Pakistani political analyst, told Arab News.
She said Sharif remained a key leader of the party, who had “resonance with the public.” “He may use this office to distance himself from some of the unpopular decisions taken by elected office-holders of his party,” Riaz said.
Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of Islamabad-based think tank PILDAT, said Sharif’s election would not have much impact as far as the country and the PML-N were concerned, but it was a significant move for Sharif personally.
“He [Sharif] will feel that his personal redemption has moved forward and he has reclaimed the position which he was removed from,” Mahboob told Arab News.
He said another aspect of Sharif’s election was that the “duality” in party leadership had been removed as it was always the elder brother who called the shots in the party.
Mahboob, however, said the separation of the positions of the party head and the head of government had not been very successful in Pakistan in the past.
“It is desirable but not practical in Pakistani culture of political parties, because it takes a lot of political maturity and democratic culture to live with multiple centers of power,” he added.