Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hamza Shehbaz Sharif has said that the upcoming polls will be the “most difficult elections” in the entire history of the country. What does he mean? Unfortunately, however, he did not explain his point for whatever reasons.

In my view, Hamza Shehbaz, who often heaps praise on the 16-month-old government that his father, Shehbaz Sharif, led prior to the arrival of the current setup in the country, seems to have woken up and smelled the coffee.

He doesn’t appear overly optimistic about his party’s prospects ever since the party Quaid Nawaz Sharif return to the country from his four-year-old self-imposed exile abroad a couple of weeks ago. It is yet to be seen how Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will strategise KPK and Punjab polls.

That even a visible ‘crackdown’ on PML-N’s principal rival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) hasn’t helped boost the Sharifs’ morale so far is a fact. Six months on from the ugly May 9 incidents, a vivid portrait of PTI has emerged.

A seemingly beleaguered party has been trying to contextualize the myriad new ground realities or challenges that have emerged on the country’s political landscape since its ouster from power in 2022. Although its top leadership, including party chairman Imran Khan, have no chance to come out of the prison before Feb 8 polls, the party has decided to take part in the elections against all the odds.

Over and over, its leaders and workers alike have shown immense perseverance and patience in the face of adversity. I, as a student of political science, know well that things for PTI look grim, but all is not lost.

The party, in my view, is required to reach out to the bases of Imran Khan’s support across the country in true sense of the word, beyond hoary anti-establishment stereotypes because it still has a chance to make a comeback.

Abu Adnan

Karachi

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023