Nawabzada Mohsin joins PML-N, as Sharifs keep focusing on KP

ISLAMABAD: The ruling PML-N got a boost in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday with Nawabzada Mohsin Ali from Karak district joining the party, as he met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the federal capital.

Nawabzada has previously served as the provincial chief of PTI.

As Nawabzada joined the party along with his son Shehryar and other colleagues, the prime minister welcomed his decision.

Speaking on the occasion, Shehbaz promised that the federal government would continue playing its role in restoring law and order in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

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The comments came as the PTI is being criticised over its failure to tackle the challenge of terrorism in the province, as law and order is a provincial subject since the passage of 18th Amendment.

CHANGING SOCIAL DYNAMICS AND SUBSITUTE

It is latest addition to the heavyweights from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa opting for the PML-N — a series that started with ANP leader Zahid Khan‘s induction into the party. He is from Dir district of Malakand Division.

Even more important is the fact that the PML-N is able to able to attract a big political name from southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Later, Samar Bilour too decided to part ways with the ANP in favour of the PML-N led by the Sharifs.

Zahid Khan and Samar Bilour joining of the PML-N is of great significance, as they shunned the nationalist politics to be part of a national party.

It is shows the declining fortunes of the ANP amid the rising extremism and the new shape of nationalism in a environment where the Taliban and their narrative along with the PTI are redefining the politics in the militancy-hit province.

That’s why some security and political experts have been warning in recent years that the narratives of nationalist PTM, terrorist TTP and the PTI are getting more and more similar.

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At the same time, it also means that the powerful Bilour family too is divided over the political future of ANP — a family that is very close to the elder Sharif, the former three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

MAKING THE LOST GROUND

But given the prevailing disappointment among the masses thanks to the “poor governance” by the PTI, which is ruling Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2013, there is a room for a viable alternative. And the PML-N is looking to fill the current vacuum by presenting itself as the most suitable option.

Since its inception, the PML-N had strong presence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — in both the Pashtu-speaking and Hindko-speaking areas.

However, the party could not recover in the province after Musharraf takeover in 1999 and the subsequent developments, including the rising influence of religious narrative in the post-9/11 world.

Therefore, the latest efforts made by the PML-N leadership to revive the party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should be seen as an attempt to make the lost ground.