Dissident PML-N leaders launch ‘Awaam Pakistan’ party

ISLAMABAD: Former PML-N leaders Miftah Ismail and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday formally launched a new party named Awaam Pakistan, declaring it “open for all” to join.

 The new political party – with a promise to change the obsolete system which, they said, serves the elite only.

The leaders had long floated the idea of a new political entity to take the country out of perennial crises.

Miftah, who served as finance minister twice in the PML-N government, blasted the incumbent government by equating it with the East India Company and said middle class was being crushed, as he criticised the recent tax rate hike for the salaried classes, while also noting that 100 million people had been pushed below the poverty line.

He called for providing “economic opportunity for all” and said common people must join politics, as they were not allowed to progress.

The country could not be managed under the existing system, as it failed to protect the people, said the former PML-N leader who started to distance himself from the PML-N top leadership after Ishaq Dar replaced him as finance minister during the 16-month long PDM stint in government.

The current system cannot work. It has to be changed, said Miftah in his address at the launching ceremony of the latest addition to a long list of political parties in Pakistan.

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Describing provision of health and education services as a state responsibility, the former finance minister said the latest budget reflected the rulers’ mindset, adding that the current system was meant to trap the masses.

As Miftah branded the existing state system as dual-faced, he said the newly-launched party would follow merit within its structure.

Last month, a glimpse of Awaam Pakistan appeared on the country’s political horizon after a video posted on the X account of the party was shared with the tagline ‘Awaam Pakistan: Badlein ge nizam’ (People of Pakistan: We will change the system).

The video, featuring a string of despondent citizens asking questions about multiple national issues, was reshared by both Ismail and Abbasi.

Speaking at the ceremony in Islamabad, the former finance minister said the vision of his party was to provide Pakistanis with equal economic opportunities. He stated that Awaam Pakistan would not follow the “hereditary politics” or the concept of a “messiah”.

“If you believe that we have the right to move forward […] then join us, we will stand with you and rebuild Pakistan,” Ismail said.