*ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ruling party’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)once-wide path to retaining power is narrowing ahead of a general electionthis summer.*
In the past year, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party has seen aprime minister – its founder Nawaz Sharif – and foreign minister bothousted by the courts, while its finance minister, charged with corruption,fled the country. On Sunday, a gunman shot and wounded its interiorminister.
All of this comes before another court ruling due next month that couldsend Sharif to jail for 14 years over a corruption case he says is a“conspiracy” against him, Reuters has reported.
An alleged religious extremist has been arrested over the gun attack onInterior Minister Ahsan Iqbal.
That appears unrelated to PML-N’s wider problems with the military andjudiciary – both of whom deny pursuing a political agenda. But theassassination attempt adds to a growing list of woes afflicting a partythat less than a year ago was deemed a shoo-in for another five-year term.
[image: Nawaz Sharif]link>
Such a series of body blows suggests the PML-N is unlikely to repeat itssuccess at the 2013 election, which left it with a majority in the NationalAssembly, with most analysts predicting a hung parliament that will usherin a coalition government.
“All these other issues that are thrown up just distract the party fromdoing what it needs to do in an election,” said Huma Yusuf, a columnist andWilson Center Global Fellow. “It makes it an unequal playing field.”
PML-N’s main challenge is expected to come from the PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led by cricket hero-turned-politician ImranKhan, who has promised a radical change for the poor if he is elected aspremier.
Sharif, a three-time prime minister whose second term was cut short by abloodless military coup in 1999, has cast the electoral campaign as abattle to protect Pakistan’s fragile democracy after a decade ofuninterrupted civilian rule.
While no-one is suggesting the army wants to outright seize power again,PML-N insiders say Sharif’s relationship with the generals is in tattersand accuse shadowy military networks of working with the judiciary toweaken the party.
Sharif on Thursday said “aliens”, a typical coded reference to theestablishment, had been calling PML-N lawmakers and pushing them to abandonthe party or join PTI. The lawmakers were threatened with corruption casesbeing opened against them if they disobeyed, he said.
The military, which did not respond to a request for comment, has stronglydenied interfering in politics.
PML-N officials accuse the military of using its muscle to arm-twist themedia, as TV channels at times mute the sound on Sharif and his allies ifthey criticize the judiciary or the military. Newspapers have also omittedSharif comments on those topics.
PML-N has tried to circumvent the restrictions by focusing on social media,livestreaming all rallies on Facebook and spreading its messages onWhatsApp and Twitter.
Analysts say the party is also hamstrung by internal divisions.
Sharif is yet to fully throw his weight behind his brother Shehbaz Sharif,who is the PML-N president and favorite to replace current Prime MinisterShahid Khaqan Abbasi. In the dynastic world of Pakistani politics, that hasprompted speculation Nawaz fears his daughter and presumed heir Maryamwould lose out in a future succession battle to Shehbaz’s son, Hamza.
Another internal debate is over whether to take a more conciliatory linewith the military and judges.
One PML-N minister, speaking on condition of anonymity, said while Sharif’stone has hardened in recent months, ties with the military establishmentwould have to be repaired if the party was to govern again.
“The largest political force in the country — PML-N — should not be atloggerheads with both the judiciary and the army,” he said. “All sides needto let go of their ego and come together for the good of the country.”
Pakistan’s judges have denied singling out Sharif or the PML-N, and insteadsay they are enforcing accountability, while Sharif’s critics accuse theveteran leader of making up excuses to try to evade justice over corruption.
Two serving PML-N ministers are facing contempt of court charges, whileformer Finance Minister Ishaq Dar went into exile in London mid-way througha corruption trial.
Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, a Sharif loyalist, was removed fromparliament by a lower court in late April as he was deemed not “honest”under a constitutional provision that the Supreme Court also used to oustSharif. The courts said both men did not declare salaries drawn from UnitedArab Emirates companies, an allegation they both dispute.
Sharif has portrayed his party as a victim of interference from other stateinstitutions, while accusing Khan of being a pawn of the military, a chargeKhan vehemently denies. – Agencies