Maryam Nawaz’s journey to ‘Takht-e-Lahore’ no small feat. She will restore PML-N’s lost glory

After Maharani Jind Kaur, Maryam Nawaz Sharif will rule the Takht-e-Lahore. Jind Kaur, popular as Rani Jindan, took over as queen regent in 1843, ruling on behalf of her five-year-old son Duleep Singh, who ascended the throne after the death of his father Maharaja Ranjit Singh. She remained queen until the end of the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1846.

Nearly 180 years later, Pakistan Punjab is finally getting its first female chief minister. No mean achievement in a male-dominated political setup where women are often relegated to the sidelines. And certainly not a small feat in a family where every third person has been or wants to be the chief minister of Punjab province.

Maryam’s first prominent appearance was in a BBC interview, where she detailed her father’s incarceration by General Pervez Musharraf in the October 1999 coup. While Nawaz and other male members of the family were imprisoned, his fearless wife Kulsoom and daughter Maryam rallied for public support. “I can smell the danger, but who is on the wrong side? Ultimately Gen Musharraf is going to be in trouble,” Maryam had said. First lesson learnt – dictators die politically, but civilian leaders live through generations.

Resilient and rebellious

Facing political persecution with resilience and defiance made Maryam Nawaz a political force long before she began her parliamentary career. The ‘How to Become a Successful Politician in Pakistan’ guide will have one chapter, really — let thyself be persecuted at the hands of the real rulers of this land. In the case of Maryam, this persecution began years before she fought her first provincial and national election in 2024. If Nawaz was targeted by the Pakistan Army, Maryam was hounded with trumped-up political court cases that only served to enhance her popularity.

Let’s rewind to July 2018, when hundreds of paramilitary soldiers apprehended the father and daughter at Lahore airport, taking them into custody just days before the general election that year. The imagery of a defiant daughter, standing next to her father and willingly accepting arrest, is what catapulted Maryam to where she is today. Going to jail before getting a political launch is the best start to the career for any Pakistani politician.

In the next four years of Imran Khan’s Army-backed hybrid government, Maryam continued to be hounded with arrests, court cases, harassment and even death threats. In 2021, the government threatened and intimidated Maryam to make her fall in line. Nawaz warned that if any harm were to befall his daughter, then Imran, the Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, and Maj Gen Irfan Malik, DG Counter Intelligence ISI, would be responsible.

Maryam became the face of PML-N in 2013, during her father’s third term as Prime Minister. While she didn’t hold any government position, she set up a Strategic Media Communications Cell in the Prime Minister’s Office and took on an honorary role as chair of the PM’s youth programme. Considering Maryam was widely recognised as Nawaz’s political heir, she was heavily disliked by the political establishment, which often conspired to link her to controversies.

There were, for instance, attempts to implicate her in the so-called Dawn Leaks of 2016, which revealed that the Nawaz Sharif government had allegedly confronted the military establishment to take appropriate action against militant groups or face international isolation. News channels went on a witch-hunt, hell-bent on associating her with the leaks. When that didn’t work, she was accused of supporting blasphemous content.

A set of dissenting bloggers were abducted in 2017 by intelligence agencies. Upon release, they revealed that they had resisted giving a forced confession. The confession they had resisted was about Maryam allegedly running a blasphemous Facebook page called ‘Bhensa’ at the behest of the Indian intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).

The bucket list tricks to keep civilian leaders in line – corruption, religious fatwas, and India-friendship blanketed as ‘gaddari’.

‘Aurat raj’ and how

From Benazir Bhutto to Maryam Nawaz, Pakistan’s women politicians haven’t had an easy journey to the top. The vile discourse surrounding women in jalsas, assemblies and online platforms isn’t new, but it has certainly become worse over time. Take Imran, who has taught sexist and ageist slurs such as “nani”, along with sexual innuendos like “Maryam, don’t take my name with such passion, your husband will mind,” to his workers and followers alike.

If Madam CM folds her hands in the assembly or touches her father’s feet out of respect, critics retort, saying this ain’t our culture. “Haw, hai, yeh sab to Hindu kartay hain (Hindus do these things).” What defines our culture, then? Shouting “taxi, taxi” or hurling shoes, charas packets, bottles, and lotas at a female PML-N assembly member in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa?

With Maryam, PML-N seeks to redeem its lost glory in Punjab. Her first speech after her election in the Punjab assembly refreshingly touched upon the issues of religious minorities, marginalised transgender community, and care for individuals with autism. Along with, of course, the compartmentalised government plan she wishes to implement. A much-needed break from the anda-cow-murginomics of former Prime Minister Imran Khan that left us in splits but Pakistan on the brink. A relief that there is a Punjab CM who won’t be asking officials: Yeh corona kaat-ta kaise hai? (how does this coronavirus bite)? This was the only worthwhile contribution of Usman Buzdar – also known as ‘Wasim Akram plus’— in all the years he spent as Punjab CM. Of course, other than aiding and abetting the Imran, Bushra, Gogi raj.

The author is a journalist from Pakistan. Her X handle is @nailainayat. Views are personal.

(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)