ISLAMABAD , June 24, 2023: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Miftah Ismail on Saturday resigned from all party positions after the party removed him from the office.
Miftah resigned as PML-N Sindh’s general secretary and left party’s committees as well. He said he would no longer be a part of the electoral politics, adding that he was grateful to the party for giving him responsibilities.
“PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif always treated me well,” he said. He went on to say that he was desirous of seeing just and economically prosperous Pakistan, adding that he wished the party and its members well.
Earlier, the PML-N had decided to remove Miftah from the party’s office just days after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told a gathering in Lahore that there was no room for those criticising and backstabbing Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
However, Miftah wasn’t alone in his removal from the party as the provincial president, Shah Muhammad Shah, too lost his spot.
In this connection, PML-N chief organiser Maryam Nawaz said Miftah – who has been very critical of the government policies – won’t get any party responsibility in the future, describing the performance of Miftah and Shah as disappointing.
Promising to assign the posts to new faces, Maryam, while speaking to senior party leaders, said what Shah and Miftah were doing when the PML-N members opted to join other parties. The two leaders neither convinced those leaving the party to rethink nor informed the top leadership about the developments, she added.
Miftah has been openly criticising Dar for the government’s economic policies and predicting that Pakistan would soon default – a scenario rubbished by the finance minister repeatedly.
He had, earlier, said he would follow in the footsteps of former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, another disgruntled PML-N leader, if Abbasi decided to leave the party.
Both Abbasi and Miftah are great advocates of closing liaison with the IMF and reduced government role in the economic affairs like open market determining the dollar exchange rate and rupee depreciation.
Abbasi is even against importing LNG from Azerbaijan through a government-to-government agreement as he called for assigning the task to a private company.
Miftah has been accusing Dar of conspiring to ensure his removal from the federal cabinet despite the fact that an overwhelming majority in the party was against his pro-IMF stance.