Nawaz Sharif to visit Quetta today

The Baloch Hal News
QUETTA: Former Prime Minister of Pakistan and the chief of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Nawaz) Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif is scheduled to visit Balochistan capital, Quetta, today (Monday) for the first time in the last 12 years.

According to party officials, the opposition leader would arrive in Quetta from Lahore and will be welcomed by party leaders and activists at Quetta airport. The former prime minister will meet leading Baloch and Pashtun leaders during his visit, including Talal Akbar Bugti, the head of Jamori Watan Party and a son of Nawab Mohammad Akbar Bugti, and Mahmood Khan Achakzai, the president of the Pakhtunkhawa Milli Awami Party  (PkMP). He will visit the two leaders at their respective residences in Quetta.

Sharif will discuss the political situation of Balochistan during his meetings with the Baloch and Pakhtun leaders. The visit is being seen as a move by the former prime minister to consolidate his party in the country’s largest province for a future political dispensation. A lot of former allies of Sharif had defected after his removal by Pervez Musharraf in October 1999 and joined the military ruler. Thus, many leaders affiliated with the Q-League may decide to rejoin the PML-N which has bright prospects of coming into power in the future.

During his visit, Sharif will speak with the Organizing Committee of the PML-N at a luncheon hosted by Sardar Yaqoob Nasir, the provincial president of the opposition party. Sharif would also speak to the media during his visit after the lunch. It is expected that several important political figures will announce to join the PML on the eve of Sharif’s visit.

Baloch leader Nawabzada Talal Akbar Bugti will host dinner in the honor of the former prime minister of Pakistan who is also expected to meet other Baloch leaders and Pakhtun tribal elders. Nawaz Sharif has been very vocal in terms of opposing the murder of Nawab Bugti and demanding justice for the family of the slain former governor and the chief minister.

Party sources said no public gathering would be organized on this occasion due to security reasons. Yet, the PML-N leader would meet a vast range of leaders in the province during his first visit in the past 12 years. Sharif had cancelled his visits to Balochistan at least five times before owing the security concerns and personal engagements.

Meanwhile, a senior leader of the Pakhtunkhawa Milli Awami Party Lawyers’ Forum, Samanadar Khan Kasi advocate, announced on Sunday in a press conference at the Quetta Press Club to join the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz.

He was flanked by Sardar Yaqoob Nasir, a former member of the National Assembly and the provincial president of the N-League, Khuda-e-Noor, provincial organizer of the PML-N and other party leaders.

Speaking at the press conference, Kasi said, Pakistan was engulfed with multiple challenges at the moment and there was an urgent need for all the citizens of the country to sink all differences and struggle to unite Pakistan. He said Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif was a leader who possessed the ability to take the country out of challenges and threats of disintegration.

PML-N provincial president Yaqoob Nasir said that the people had been disappointed with the government of Pakistan People’s Party due to its ‘poor performance’. Nawaz Sharif was a hope to survive the future of Pakistan. When asked about his opinion about changing the name of North Western Frontier Province (NWFP), Nasir said he personally supported the idea of changing that province’s name but his opinion contradicted with the party policy.

“An internal committee has been formed to look into the matter of changing the name of NWFP. We are bound to respect whatever decision is made by the committee,” he said.