PML-N | Pakistan

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Sunday slammed the sisters of PTI founder Imran Khan for giving interviews to the Indian media while one of ex-premier’s sisters, Noreen Niazi, criticised the PML-N for having “double standards”. Last week, Imran’s sisters had camped outside Adiala Jail, where the PTI founder is currently incarcerated, along with other PTI members after being denied a meeting. According to the PTI, Aleema Khan, Dr Uzma Khan and Noreen were “sitting peacefully” outside the jail when they were manhandled and “violently detained” by police. After repeatedly being barred from meeting their brother, Noreen and another sister of Imran, Aleema Khan, gave separate interviews to the Indian media on the matter. “These three sisters of Imran Ahmed Niazi sahib, on May 9 they were also present at the Core Commander’s House,” he said, but added that until now they had not been told not to “cry victimisation”. “If you ask my legal opinion, their presence is proof … They were there on May 9, they broug...

LAHORE - Unlike the National Assembly where the PML-N has secured a simple majority after securing six national seats in Sunday’s by-election, an equal number of provincial seats grabbed by the ruling party makes no real difference to its position in the Punjab Assembly.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif congratulated the party’s candidates on their victories in the Punjab and KP by-elections.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated PML-N candidates on Monday for their overwhelming win in yesterday’s by-polls, which were held amid an election boycott by the opposition PTI in all constituencies except for two, low voter turnout and rigging allegations. According to provisional results, the PML-N won all six National Assembly (NA) seats and six of seven Punjab Assembly seats up for grabs. One provincial seat was won by the PPP, which fielded its candidates in only three of the 13 constituencies. Most of these seats were vacated following the disqualification of PTI members due to their convictions in May 9 cases. In separate but similar statements, PM Shehbaz congratulated the PML-N candidates for their victories in NA-18 (Haripur), NA-96 and NA-104 (Faisalabad), NA-185 (Dera Ghazi Khan), PP-73 (Sargodha), PP-87 (Mianwali), and Faisalabad’s PP-98, PP-116 and PP-115. The statements issued by the PM’s Office said the premier congratulated the candidates for their “brilliant success”. The statements...

PML-N eyes big win in by-polls today

The PTI slammed the PML-N government on Thursday for allegedly employing rigging tactics in support of its candidate in Lahore’s NA-129 by-election. The by-election is scheduled for Sunday. The party claimed that campaigning began with state personnel tearing down the PTI candidate’s banners and posters, managing polling stations and then appointing subordinates of the PML-N candidate, who has served as chairman of the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) Board of Directors (BoD). The PTI leaders allege that this amounts to an orchestrated attempt to tilt the electoral playing field in favour of the ruling party’s candidate, Muhammad Nauman. The NA-129 seat, vacated after the death of Mian Muhammad Azhar, is being contested by his nephew, Chaudhry Arslan, who was nominated by Azhar’s son and former PTI Punjab acting president Hammad Azhar. The junior Azhar is absconding as he is wanted by the state in different cases. The PTI is contesting the by-election only in Lahore, where the seat was vacated, while bo...

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said on Wednesday that even the opposition acknowledges that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is the only party capable of delivering real progress.

PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Monday that a PML-N delegation led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had visited him and President Asif Ali Zardari, seeking their support for the approval of a 27th Constitutional Amendment. Separately, the PPP also issued a similar statement that quoted Bilawal as saying that the proposal included setting up constitutional courts, restoring executive magistrates and the matter of transfer of judges. It also included the end of protection for the provincial share under the National Finance Commission and amendments to Article 243 of the Constitution, which pertains to the command of armed forces, the statement further quoted Bilawal as saying. He added that the proposed amendment also included a provision about the return of the subjects of education and population planning to the federation and a point about ending the stalemate regarding appointments to the Election Commission of Pakistan. Bilawal said a session of the PPP’s central executive committee (CEC) ha...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have officially joined hands to push a no-confidence motion against Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, ending weeks of intense deadlock, PPP AJK Secretary-General Faisal Mumtaz Rathore revealed.

PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira on Monday announced that his party and the PML-N had agreed on bringing a no-confidence motion against the government in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Addressing a press conference with Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah, Kaira said: “It has been decided that the current AJK govt, which our parties were part of, has become a basis of creating a crisis instead of solving problems.” He said twice, crises of such a nature had occurred that had compelled the federal government to go and resolve them. “Now there is a consensus that a no-confidence motion will be brought against it and the PPP and PML-N will be together,” Kaira added. The PPP leader further said that the PML-N had previously announced that it would sit in the opposition, and while this may not have been the PPP’s desired wish, it still accepted the decision and agreed to it. Kaira said better governance, political stability, problem resolution and free and fair ...

PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja on Monday said the PPP and PML-N did not have any “actual plan” to form an opposition in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative (AJK) Assembly, calling them the “two sides of the same coin.” His remarks come against the backdrop of political turmoil in AJK after 10 legislators — all elected on PTI tickets in the July 2021 general elections — announced on Sunday that they were joining the PPP, which has been eyeing the premier’s slot in the region. PPP and PML-N announced that the two have agreed to bring a no-confidence motion against the government in AJK. Speaking to Geo News programme ‘Capital Talk’, Raja said, “PPP and PM-LN are the two sides of the same coin; they have an alliance and do not intend on forming an actual opposition”. “They are just each taking their respective turns right now,” he added. In response to a question regarding chatter of a new opposition leader in the National Assembly and whether Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) will support PTI, PPP o...

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has announced its candidates for the upcoming by-elections.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah said on Friday that the now-banned religious party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) was “created in a bid to cut into PMLN’s vote bank”. Yesterday, the religiopolitical party was banned by the federal cabinet. In the 2018 general elections, the TLP was estimated by political analysts to have cost the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) at least 15 closely contested national seats across Pakistan. The party secured nearly 2.2 million votes, mostly from Punjab and Karachi, during the elections. Earlier today, the interior ministry notified a ban on the TLP, saying that the federal government had “reasonable grounds” to believe the religiopolitical party was connected to terrorism, after nationwide TLP protests over Gaza claimed the lives of several protesters and police officers and paralysed major highways and city roads from Karachi to Islamabad. Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Naya Pakistan’, Rana Sanaullah, in response to a question regardin...

Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider Khan has described the alliance between the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as a “necessity, not affection,” warning that even minor irresponsibility could derail the system.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Rana Sanaullah has said that the party, under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif, has always pursued the politics of service and national development rather than hatred and division.

The PPP on Saturday, following a meeting of its Central Executive Committee (CEC), said it was giving its coalition ally, the ruling PML-N, more time to fulfil its demands. The two parties are partners in the federation, though the PPP does not have a presence in the cabinet. The disagreement between the ruling allies first surfaced last month, soon after heavy monsoon rains and flooding devastated parts of Punjab and other provinces. The PPP pushed for using the BISP to deliver immediate relief to flood-affected families, a demand resisted by the Punjab government. Tensions deepened when PPP leaders publicly criticised the Punjab government, accusing it of politicising relief and sidelining the federal mechanism for assistance. On the other hand, PML-N ministers also voiced frustration, with Rana Sanaullah calling for a complete overhaul of BISP and arguing that its current structure was unfit. The technical disagreement soon turned into a political confrontation, with both the ruling allies issuing counter-...

Despite a recent political truce between the two ruling coalition partners, tensions have resurfaced as the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) expressed strong reservations over an alleged anti-PPP social media campaign by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

ISLAMABAD - Though the war of words between two main coalition partners - PML-N and PPP has ended for now with the interventions of bigwigs, this is unlikely to be the full stop in their ongoing political skirmishes.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday released the latest party standings in the National Assembly, placing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the lead with 122 seats.

The PPP on Thursday said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had a phone call in which they discussed the “country’s prevailing political situation” amid the row between their two parties. The coalition allies have been trading barbs over how the PPP and PML-N have been providing aid to victims of the recent floods. The bad blood escalated to the point that leaders from both sides hold daily press conferences to take potshots at each other. In a post on X, the PPP confirmed the telephone call had taken place and that the country’s political situation, foreign policy and flood aid were among the topics of discussion. The war of words between the two sides expanded to water rights on the Indus River as Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif told the PPP leadership to keep its advice to itself. Last week, she said at a public address that she would not apologise for her remarks and censured the PPP for hurling “wrongful criticism” at the Punjab government over its hand...