LAHORE: Veteran Muslim Leaguer Sardar Zulfikar Ali Khosa claims a number of PML-N’s elected and unelected members unhappy at the leadership’s attitude are contacting him but he has no plan to channelise these contacts for forming a forward bloc in the ruling party.

“I haven’t approached anybody. However, a number of MPs and unelected leaders annoyed at the treatment meted out to them by the Sharifs did contact me during the last many days,” the Khosa chieftain, who was off the political scene since August 2012, told a group of reporters at his residence here on Thursday.

Once the most trusted lieutenant of the Sharifs, he threatened to expose some secrets if he was issued a show-cause notice for speaking against the ruling family.

Denies plan to form forward bloc

“I’ll make public a secret letter, which contains a lot (of facts).”

Refusing to accept dynasty politics within the PML-N, he said he did not accept Hamza, the son of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, as his (Khosa’s) leader.

“Their concept of good governance is exposed by the fact that they’ve imposed their family members on each department of the government.”

Asked whether the establishment was behind his sudden awakening from over two-year-long slumber, he said his conscience was not for sale.

“Had I any desire to occupy the party, I would have done that when the Sharifs remained in exile for over eight years.”

Referring to the coldness he was facing at the hands of the top leadership, he said: “I requested for a meeting with Nawaz Sharif the day he was taking oath as the third-time prime minister. He asked his secretary to set appointment for me but till today I’m in the waiting list,” he said.

Mr Khosa, who was elected to the Senate on the PML-N ticket in March 2012, said distribution of party tickets for the 2013 elections served as an eye-opener for him as Ishaq Dar, unfamiliar with rural politics but a close relative of Nawaz Sharif, was tasked with distributing party tickets in Punjab. He said he (Khosa) went to each and every street of Punjab during the years when the Sharifs were abroad but was ignored in the all-important process.

He also alleged that many of the PML-Q forward bloc members were denied tickets against the promise made with them in return for their support for the N League’s minority government in the previous Punjab Assembly.

The former Punjab governor also criticised the Sharifs’ current choice for the post.

“Couldn’t they find any suitable person from among 80 million Punjabis as they imported a UK national to grace the office,” he asked, clarifying he had no personal issues with Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar.

“I’d asked them (Sharifs) at that time to give the office to party’s woman stalwart Zakiya Shahnawaz and write a new history (by making her the first woman governor) but the advice was ignored.”

He doesn’t see any rapprochement chances. He replied in the negative when asked if he could reconcile with the leadership if the latter took the initiative. “A faithful cannot be stung twice. But I’ve been stung many times and have reached the last limit of my patience.”

Mr Khosa, who served as the PML-N Punjab president during hard times under Musharraf regime, alleged that billions of rupees were being siphoned off in the name of providing relief to the flood victims. No concrete step was taken to prevent flooding but each year billions of rupees were spent on the flood victims only to embezzle a huge amount from the relief funds, he alleged.

He claimed that the Sharifs did not know the party MPs by name as bureaucrats provided them lists with photographs of the MPs to avert any embarrassing situation during meetings.

He told a questioner that his son Dost Muhammad Khosa, who was also present at the media talk, had been made the stop-gap chief minister in 2008 by the Sharifs only because they knew that the post would return to them without any trouble.

About the party organisation, he said the party was nowhere visible as its structure had been badly damaged.

“I know no more than the fact that the Sharifs are hurting their future on their own,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2014