[DAWN] Punjab
1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots....
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif
...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab...
, who is set to succeed his brother at the Centre in less than two months, is looking towards his son, Hamza Shabaz, as his replacement in Punjab so as to keep the position in the family, but also because he enjoys a degree of comfort in dealing with his son, say Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz (PML-N) insiders.
According to the party insiders, however, the final say on who gets to helm Punjab rests with ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
, who is looking to consolidate the party’s control in Punjab. The PML-N cannot afford to lose its grip on Punjab at this time, especially since the next general elections are barely a year away, says a senior PML-N leader.
"Shahbaz wants his son, who is already acting as the deputy chief minister, to succeed him for the remaining term in Punjab. However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
[it is up to] Nawaz Sharif to decide whether Hamza will be the right choice for the post or not," a senior PML-N politician from Punjab told Dawn. "Whoever is nominated for the CM post will follow instructions from Shahbaz...but his level of comfort with his son will be higher than with an ’outsider’. At the same time, Shahbaz wants to give his son the experience he needs to serve at the top level."
The PML-N leader added that Shahbaz would continue to oversee matters in Punjab indirectly, while his elder brother (Nawaz Sharif) would govern the Centre from his Raiwind residence.
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