Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif passes torch as daughter Maryam elected Punjab chief

ISLAMABAD — Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of Pakistan’s three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was elected chief minister of the country’s most populous province on Monday — a passing of the torch that will immediately present her with daunting challenges.

The elder Sharif had been widely expected to become Pakistan’s prime minister again. But after his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) turned in an unconvincing performance in the Feb. 8 elections, he has stepped back, positioning his brother Shehbaz Sharif to become prime minister under a coalition government and nominating Maryam for chief minister of Punjab.

While the PML-N has had to scrape together an alliance to form a central government, in Punjab it at least controls a clear majority, with 193 seats in the 371-member assembly. Maryam was elected chief minister with 220 votes, days after the party also elected its speaker and deputy speaker.

This makes Maryam the first female provincial chief minister, and an influential one. Punjab is the most politically crucial province, home to 127 million people. Many see her election as a symbolic move by Nawaz — who himself served as Punjab’s top leader in the 1980s — to transfer his legacy and position her as a future national leader.

Maryam, 50, is already senior vice president and chief organizer of the PML-N. But with her election as chief minister, “the next generation of Sharifs has clearly entered the field of politics,” said Majid Nizami, a political analyst based in Lahore.

Sabookh Syed, a political analyst in Islamabad, credited Nawaz with developing the PML-N into a political brand with a strong grip on Punjab. “Now, ‘[Maryam] has to carry forward the legacy of her father and fight for the political survival of the Sharif family,” he said.

She will have her hands full, experts say.

Far from calming the political waters, the elections have pushed Pakistan deeper into instability. Independent candidates backed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won the largest share of National Assembly seats but could not form a government. The party and its supporters continue to protest alleged tampering with the results.

So although the PML-N is comfortably in control of Punjab, it faces widespread resentment on the streets as well as a vocal opposition in the provincial legislature.

On Monday, PTI-backed independents — now part of the Sunni Ittehad Council — boycotted the chief minister vote.

Analysts call Maryam “inexperienced,” noting she has never served in a government position. The closest thing was a stint as head of the Prime Minister’s Youth Program, an initiative to promote education and employment for young Pakistanis when Nawaz Sharif was leader in 2014.

“For [Maryam], the challenge is how she runs the Punjab government without any prior experience,” said Farhan Hanif Siddiqui, associate professor of international relations at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

Syed, the political analyst, agreed that Maryam will be under huge pressure to perform. Shehbaz Sharif, her uncle, “performed well as chief minister of Punjab, and Maryam’s performance will be judged against that precedent,” he said. Shehbaz is remembered for overseeing completion of the Lahore Metro’s Orange Line and other projects at a brisk pace, which some dubbed “Shehbaz Speed.”

Fortunately for Maryam, Syed added, Shehbaz is set to be prime minister and should lend his support. “If Maryam follows Shehbaz’s way of politics and follows the lead of the military establishment, then she will not face much trouble running Punjab,” he predicted.

Friction with the PTI, however, could shape her term, as Maryam has voiced hostility toward Khan and his supporters in the past.

“It’s expected that Maryam might use her powers to seek political revenge from PTI people, which will add fuel to the fire,” said Nizami in Lahore. “Maryam seems to be a female version of Imran Khan when it comes to attacking her political opponents.”

Nawaz, when he returned from exile last October, had insisted his side was not out for “revenge.”

But Siddiqui at Quaid-i-Azam University believes a turbulent economic and boisterous opposition will keep Punjab politics tense. “If Maryam seeks the path of revenge politics after becoming chief minister, then an increase in political instability is inevitable.”

After Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022, the PML-N took over in a coalition with the Pakistan People’s Party and other smaller players. With the apparent backing of the powerful military establishment, that government set about suppressing the PTI in myriad ways — a strategy that was only partially effective, as this month’s elections showed. Even with Khan in jail for corruption and other charges he denies, and the PTI barred from contesting as a single party, its candidates performed far better than expected.

Now, with a similar formula set to form another PML-N and PPP government, many anticipate more screw-tightening against the PTI.

The “PML-N is determined to root out the PTI from politics and establish a two-party system in Pakistan, with the PPP being the other party,” Syed said. “This confrontational attitude closes the doors for any political reconciliation and Pakistan.”

Source : nikkei asia