It took US Chargḥé D’Affaires Angela Aggeler to bring into the open what had become an open secret, by holding separate meetings with PML(N) President Shehbaz and PML(N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Thursday. Both meetings took place in Lahore, thus making clear Ms Aggeler’s need to hear from them separately. Diplomats from all countries, including the USA, interact with politicians of all stripes so as to report back home information that will allow their home governments to formulate policy effectively. Because their time is limited, usually they prefer to meet one representative of the party who can give them the position of their party. The need to meet a Vice-President of the party (one of 16) after she had got the opportunity of meeting the party President, is unusual. It was also to be noted that Ms Nawaz was accompanied by senior party leaders, including two, Senior Vice-President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal, who technically outranked her.
However, the party considers her in the light of the representative of her father, Mian Nawaz Sharif, who is still the Quaid of the party, and still its primary vote-getter. The PML(N) is not speaking with one voice at the moment, though there is much that it has to say about such issues as the Afghanistan issue, that will be of interest abroad, including to the USA, which has its own interests in how the situation develops there.
The split within the party is not formal, but it been made clear by Ms Aggeler that it is no longer possible to pretend about the difference between Mr Shehbaz Sharif, on the one hand, who is following a soft line on the role of the military in politics, while Ms Nawaz and her father want to name names and take a hard line. The best symbol of this has been Mian Shehbaz’s silence over the DG ISI controversy itself, as well as Ms Nawaz’s remarks,where she seems to be waning to take credit.
