Pakistan Muslim League (N)

Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) پاکستان مسلم لیگ (ن) ن لیگ
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This article is part of a series about Nawaz Sharif
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The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (

One of several continuing factions of the original Muslim League,^[24] the seeds of the party were sown following the 1985 elections when the Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Khan Junejo organised the supporters of President Zia-ul-Haq's dictatorship into a single party, known as the Pakistan Muslim League. After President Zia-ul-Haq's death in 1988, under the leadership of Fida Mohammad Khan, a large faction split away from the Junejo-led Pakistan Muslim League, and formed a conservative alliance with various right-wing and Islamist political parties, called the Islamic Democratic Alliance. The alliance formed a government in 1990 under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif. In 1993, the alliance dissolved and the party assumed its current shape, branding itself as the "Nawaz" faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, in contrast to the "Junejo" faction.

After its foundation, the PML-N, along with the People's Party, dominated the two-party political system of Pakistan.^[25] However, after the 1999 coup, the party was eclipsed by its own splinter faction, the Musharraf-backed Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid), for almost a decade. PML-N regained popularity in the 2008 general elections, when it was elected as the principal opposition party. It returned to power following the elections of 2013, with Sharif elected as the prime minister for an unprecedented third term. The party, however, faced a major setback following the disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2017. The situation was worsened when Sharif and his daughter Maryam were sentenced to imprisonment on charges of corruption; however, their respective sentences were later suspended.^[26]

The party lost both the center and provincial government of its stronghold Punjab,^[27] to PTI in the 2018 elections. In 2024, General Elections, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz emerged as the largest party in Punjab with 193 members in the Provincial Assembly, and also largest in the Center. Maryam Nawaz (daughter of Former PM Nawaz Sharif) became the first female Chief Minister of Punjab.

History

Breakaway from the original PML

Upon the creation of Pakistan and departure of the British Crown in 1947, the All-India Muslim League (AIML) became the Muslim League, which was now led by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan. After the assassination of Prime Minister Ali Khan, the Muslim League struggled to revive itself, eventually losing control of East Pakistan in legislative elections to the Left Front.^[28] Internal disagreement over the party's direction, lack of a political program, motivation for public reforms, and inadequate administrative preparations and mismanagement all led to the public decline of the party.^[29] With the Socialist Party, the Muslim League struggled for its survival while facing the Republican Party and Awami League.^[28] The martial law imposed in 1958 eventually outlawed all political parties in the country.^[28]

The foundation and ground base of the PML-N lies with the Pakistan Muslim League, which was founded in 1962 as an enriched conservative project derived from the defunct Muslim League.^{[citation needed]} The PML was presided over by Fatima Jinnah, who actively participated in presidential elections held in 1965 against Muhammad Ayub Khan.^[29] After Fatima Jinnah's death, the PML was led by Nurul Amin, a Bengali leader, who deepened its role in West Pakistan.^[29]

On a nationalist and conservative platform, the party engaged in political campaigns against the leftist Pakistan People's Party and the Bengali nationalist party, the Awami League, in the general elections held in 1970.^[29] It managed to secure only two electoral seats in the East Pakistan parliament and only ten in the National Assembly of Pakistan.^[29] In spite of its limited mandate, Nurul Amin became the prime minister and vice-president of Pakistan – the only figure to have been appointed as vice-president.^[29] The PML government was short-lived and soon its government fell in the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.^[29] The PML-N is ideologically close to the military and holds common beliefs on national security.^[29]

The list below shows the well-known breakaway factions and their relationships with the military, although many minor factions have existed throughout Pakistani history:

Electoral history

The

In 1988, the Pakistan Muslim League (N) was founded and established by Fida Mohammad Khan, an original Pakistan Movement activist, who became the party's founding president, whilst Nawaz Sharif became its first secretary-general. The party is not the original Muslim League, but is accepted as its continuing legal successor.^[31]

At the time of the 1988 elections, the PML was part of the eight-party

Election results also showed liberals, the MQM, emerging as the third major party with 15 seats.^[24] For the first time in the history of the country, Sharif allowed foreign money exchange to be transacted through private money changers.^[32] While internationally acclaimed, his policies were condemned by the PPP. Benazir Bhutto mounted pressure on President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who dismissed the IDA government on 18 April 1993.^[24] The PML-N appealed to the Supreme Court, which then restored Sharif's government on 26 May. The country's armed forces and the military leadership attempted to negotiate with Sharif and get him to step down.^[24] This culminated in the resignation of Nawaz Sharif, and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan was also removed from office.^[24]

1993 elections and opposition

The PML-N gained national prominence in the

The Pakistan Muslim League (N) struck its remarkable, biggest, and most notable achievement in the

As a result of the

During the

After returning to Pakistan, the PML-N contested the 2008 general election, demanding a restoration of the judges sacked under the emergency rule put in place by President Pervez Musharraf, and the removal of Musharraf as president. After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Sharif announced that the PML-N would boycott the polls, but after some time and conversations with the co-chairman of the PPP, Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz announced that the party would run in the polls and began to rally in the Punjab areas. On 18 February 2008, after the polls were closed and the results had been announced, the PML-N gained 68 seats in the National Assembly, just behind the PPP. They announced that they would have discussions on forming a coalition with the PPP, which would get half the seats in the 342 seat Parliament. In a press conference on 19 February, Nawaz called for President Pervez Musharraf to step down. Nawaz and Zardari agreed on forming a coalition, and Nawaz announced that he and his party gave the PPP the right to choose the next Prime Minister.

On 13 May 2008, the PML-N ministers resigned from the government due to a disagreement related to the reinstatement of the judges. Nawaz said that the PML-N would support the government without participating in it. Zardari, hoping to preserve the coalition, told Prime Minister

On 27 June 2008, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) won three and two by-election seats respectively, in the national parliament. Polls were postponed for the sixth seat in Lahore due to Nawaz Sharif's eligibility contest. A court ruled he was ineligible due to an old conviction, amid a government appeal in the Supreme Court, which was slated to hear the case on 30 June, thus postponing the vote in the constituency.^[37] The two parties also won 19 of 23 provincial assembly seats where by-elections were held. The results did not affect the 18 February general election results in which Benazir Bhutto's PPP won 123 seats in the 342-seat National Assembly, and Sharif's party came second with 91, while Pervez Musharraf's party came a poor third, with 54 seats. Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) won eight provincial assembly seats, while the PPP won seven provincial seats.^[38][39] On 25 August 2008, Nawaz Sharif announced that Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui would be Pakistan Muslim League (N) nominee to replace Pervez Musharraf as President of Pakistan.^[40]

2013 general elections

During its election campaign for the

Election	Presiding chair of the party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
1985	members participated as non-partisan	–	46.4%	96 / 200	96	Government
1988	Fida Mohammad Khan	5,908,741	30.2%	56 / 207	40	Opposition
1990	Nawaz Sharif	7,908,513	37.4%	106 / 207	56	Government
1993	Nawaz Sharif	7,980,229	39.9%	73 / 207	38	Opposition
1997	Nawaz Sharif	8,751,793	45.9	137 / 207	64	Government
2002	Javed Hashmi	3,791,321	12.7%	19 / 342	118	Opposition
2008	Nisar Ali Khan	6,805,324	19.65%	89 / 341	70	Opposition
2013	Nawaz Sharif	14,874,104	32.77%	166 / 342	77	Government
2018	Shehbaz Sharif	12,934,589	24.35%	82 / 342	84	Opposition (till 11 April 2022)
						Coalition Government (from 11 April 2022)

Senate of Pakistan Elections

Election	Presiding chair of the party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
2009	Nawaz Sharif	-	–	7 / 104	-	Opposition
2012	Nawaz Sharif	-	–	14 / 104	7	Opposition
2015	Nawaz Sharif	-	-	26 / 104	12	Government
2018	Shehbaz Sharif	-	–	33 / 104	7	Government
2021	Shehbaz Sharif	–	–	18 / 100	15	Opposition

Punjab Assembly Elections

Election	Presiding chair of the party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
1993	Nawaz Sharif	-	–	103 / 255	-	Opposition
1997	Nawaz Sharif	–	–	228 / 255	125	Government
2002	Javed Hashmi	3,028,856	16.43%	43 / 371	185	Opposition
2008	Shehbaz Sharif (Won in By-Elections)	5,597,569	27.05%	148 / 371	105	Government*
2013	Shahbaz Sharif	11,365,363	40.77%	313 / 371	165	Government
2018	Hamza Shahbaz Sharif	10,516,446	31.78%	167 / 371	146	Opposition
						Government (from 16 April 2022 till 27 July 2022)
						Opposition (from 27 July 2022)

• In the
  PPP
  was expelled from this coalition.

Balochistan Assembly Elections

Election	Presiding chair of the party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
2013	Nawaz Sharif	134,758	10.28%	12 / 65	12	Coalition Government
2018	Shehbaz Sharif	28,065	1.54%	1 / 65	11	Opposition

KPK Assembly Elections

Election	Presiding chair of the party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
2013	Nawaz Sharif	856,135	15.90%	15 / 124	-	Opposition
2018	Shehbaz Sharif	655,391	10.47%	5 / 124	10	Opposition

Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly Elections

Election	Presiding chair of the party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
2011	Nawaz Sharif	–	–	10 / 49	10	Coalition Government
2016	Nawaz Sharif	739,195	44.4%	35 / 49	24	Government
2021	Shehbaz Sharif	490,091	25.64%	7 / 54	28	Opposition

Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly Elections

Election	Presiding chair of the party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
2009	Nawaz Sharif	–	–	3 / 33	3	Opposition
2015	Nawaz Sharif	129,526	34.17%	21 / 33	18	Government
2020	Shehbaz Sharif	–	–	3 / 33	18	Opposition

Structure

The major function of the General Council Meeting (or Central Working Committee) is to elect presidents and secretaries, while it is also responsible for promoting PML-N activities.^[41] The GCM's meetings are generally held at the Jinnah Convention Centre in Islamabad.^[42]

Nawaz Sharif was elected President of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) in 2011.

Nawaz Sharif has been accused of corruption and involvement in smuggling large amounts of money outside the country, and he was recently revealed by the Panama Papers to have been involved in hiding money in offshore accounts and companies.^[44][45][46]

Ideology

Economic policies

The Pakistan Muslim League (N) policies include

The Pakistan Muslim League (N) generally opposes labour union management and large-scale workers' unions.[47] The party holds that "prosperous agriculture is the backbone of national prosperity and diversification of the rural economy, by expanding non-farm rural employment, is critical for the alleviation of poverty". During its federal government, the PML-N successfully privatised the major heavy industries under its planned industrial development programme.^[48]

Environmental policies

In 1997, the Environmental Protection Agency was established by the PML-N government, and its Ministry of Environment was one of the most notable government offices to protect national conservation and forestry in the country. In 1997, environmental PSAs were regularly paid for by the government to enhance and promote environmental awareness among the public.

However, the ministry's environmental policies remain a subject of ongoing controversy, often criticised for ignoring the health of the environment despite the party's declarations. The PML-N's

relations with the United States, China, the United Kingdom, European Union, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, as well as India.^[49] In 1999, the party's government successfully signed the Lahore Declaration with India.^[49]

The Pakistan Muslim League (N) remains sceptical about

Indian-held Kashmir, and numerous times it had made it clear that the party will "never compromise this long standing position on Kashmir dispute".^[50]

Leaders

List of presidents of the Pakistan Muslim League (N)
Order	Image	Presidents	Year	Rationale
1		Nawaz Sharif	1993–1999	First term
2		Kulsoom Nawaz	1999–2001	First term
3		Javed Hashmi	2001–2005	First term
4		Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan	2005–2009	First term
5		Shehbaz Sharif	2009–2010	First term
(3)		Javed Hashmi	2010–2011	Second term
(1)		Nawaz Sharif	2011–2017	Second term
(5)		Sardar Yaqoob Nasar	2017	First term
(1)		Nawaz Sharif	2017–2018	Third term
(5)		Shehbaz Sharif	2018–present	Second term

Challenges and controversies

Operation Clean-up

Main article: Operation Clean-up

Nawaz Sharif, during his first tenure as prime minister of Pakistan (1990–1993), launched a military operation against his own allies in government, MQM, for allegations against the Jinnahpur conspiracy. Later, the ISPR denied any knowledge of the Jinnahpur conspiracy and separatist maps, which were highly publicized in the media prior to the operation's launch. Thousands of MQM activists were killed, its leadership arrested, and its head, Altaf Hussain, fled to exile in the UK.

Operation 1998

During his second term as prime minister (1997–1999), Nawaz Sharif again launched an operation against MQM, who were again in alliance in Sharif's government, on accusations of assassinating

Hakeem Said. Due to MQM's militant activities and sectarian killings in Karachi, Nawaz Sharif was forced to end the alliance with MQM for the benefit of the nation. An elected PMLN Sindh government in alliance with MQM was dismissed and President's rule was imposed. The operation launched a new era of bloodshed in Karachi and many party leaders from MQM were arrested. Imran Farooq (MQM second in command at that time) was forced to flee Pakistan and took political asylum in the UK. Fasih Jugu, who was accused of assassination, was tortured to death by law enforcement officers.^[51]

The operation resulted in major unrest as the PMLN government tried to nab the criminal elements ravaging the city of Karachi. This was one of the prime excuses the military conjured up for illegally ousting Nawaz Sharif's government in 1999 through martial law.

Plane hijacking

In 1999, Nawaz Sharif was allegedly involved in the hijacking of a plane carrying then Chief of Army Staff Pervez Musharraf as it was about to land at Karachi airport, and the control tower ordered the plane not to land in Pakistan but India instead. However, Musharraf and his loyalists had been planning a coup for months and some versions of the story claim that Musharraf orchestrated the coup from the plane and the military didn't allow the plane to land until Musharraf was assured that the military was in control of the airport. The military forced the courts to convict Sharif and sentence him to life imprisonment in 2000. General Musharraf had initially decided to hang Nawaz Sharif but under pressure from the President of the United States Bill Clinton and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, he decided not to go through with the plan.^[52] In 2010, The Supreme Court of Pakistan overturned Nawaz' conviction, making him eligible to run for power again.^[53]

Allegations of corruption

PMLN has been accused of corruption in revolutionary economic schemes such as the Yellow Cab Scheme, The National Debt Retirement Programme (NDRP), the Sasti Roti Scheme, and the Nandipur Power Project. More recently, an international newspaper published the Panama papers, naming Sharif's sons as among people who created offshore companies. Nawaz Sharif is accused of using corruption money to grow his assets in his business ventures and Ittefaq Group. Also, Nawaz Sharif was condemned to 10 years in lockup for money laundering, including his daughter Maryam Nawaz for 7 years.^[54] On 29 September 2022, Islamabad High Court overturned the corruption conviction of Maryam Nawaz and her husband Muhammad Safdar. Maryam Nawaz is now eligible to run for election.^[55]

Panama papers case and its implications

The Panama Papers case was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of Pakistan that disqualified the incumbent prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, from holding public office for life.^[56] The Supreme Court of Pakistan was petitioned by opposition politicians Imran Khan and Sheikh Rasheed, in the aftermath of the Panama Papers leak, which uncovered links between the Sharif family and eight offshore companies.^[57][58][59] The Court ordered for a Joint Investigation Team to be formed for the inquiry into allegations of money laundering, corruption and contradictory statements made by the Sharif family.^[60] On 10 July 2017, JIT submitted a 275-page report^[61][62] to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The report found that Sharif, his sons and his daughter Maryam Nawaz could not justify their income nor their assets, adding that Maryam Nawaz had been proved to be a beneficial owner of Nielsen and Nescoll.^[63] The report also showed that Maryam Nawaz had falsified evidence before the Supreme Court, proven as the Calibri font used in the document did not exist at the time when documents were said to have been created.^[64][65] After hearing all arguments and based on evidence provided by the JIT, the Supreme Court of Pakistan announced its unanimous decision and disqualified the Prime Minister from holding public office, finding that he had been dishonest in not disclosing his employed in the Dubai-based Capital FZE company in his nomination papers.^[66]

Stemming from the JIT investigation, and based on NAB's investigations, the court sentenced Nawaz Sharif to 10 years of imprisonment in relation to the Avenfield Apartments case. The sentence also extended to his daughter Maryum Nawaz, and Son-in-Law Retired Captain Safdar, who were given 7 years and 1 year imprisonment respectively.^[67] On 29 September 2022, a Pakistani court quashed the conviction of Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in a corruption case that had seen her sentenced to seven years in jail. A two-judge panel found there was no evidence to prove the prosecution case that Maryam Nawaz abetted any corruption in buying high-end apartments in London.^[68]

In the following election, PMLN suffered a massive blow due to these corruptions charges, with a net loss of 24.35%.^[69] PMLN blamed this primarily on alleged vote rigging and administrative malpractices.^[70] However, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) outright rejected such reports and stated that the elections were conducted fair and free.^[71] The European Union Election Observation Mission said that no rigging had been found during the election, and polling was termed to be "transparent".^[72]

In a hearing presided over by a division bench consisting of Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb, appeals filed by Nawaz Sharif against his sentence in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia Steel Mills cases were considered. The result of the proceedings was the acquittal of PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on 29 November 2023 from the charges pertaining to the Avenfield Apartments references.^[73]

Allegations of treachery

Nawaz gave an interview to Dawn News on 12 May 2018 in which he said that non-state actors from Pakistan were involved in the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008. A spokesman for Sharif said that Indian media had twisted his statement to make it seem like he had suggested that the state of Pakistan endorsed and was directly involved in the attacks.^[74] A National Security Council meeting was called by the Pakistan Army which declared the allegations were based on lies and misconception without specifically naming Sharif.^[75]

See also

• Muhammad Ali Jinnah
• Nawaz Sharif
• Maryam Nawaz
• Right-wing politics in Pakistan
• Liaquat Ali Khan
• Pakistan Movement
• Pakistan–United States relations
• List of Islamic political parties

References

General bibliography

• Ahmed, Akbar (2005). Jinnah, Pakistan, and Islamic Identity: A Search for Saladin. Routledge.
  ISBN 1134750226
  .
• Akbar, M. K. (1997). Pakistan from Jinnah to Sharif. New Delhi: Mittal Publications.
  ISBN 8170996740
  .
• Dixit, J. N. (2002). India-Pakistan in War and Peace. New York: Routledge. p. 504.
  ISBN 1134407572
  .
• Jalal, Ayesha (2014). The Struggle for Pakistan: A Muslim Homeland and Global Politics. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. p. 440.
  ISBN 978-0674052895
  .
• Majumdar, R., ed. (1998). Pakistan: Jinnah to the Present Day (1st ed.). New Delhi: Anmol Publications.
  ISBN 8174888640
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pakistan Muslim League (N).

• Official website