Badlenge Nizam: ‘Awaam Pakistan’ party formally launched in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Former PML-N leaders Miftah Ismail, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and other notable leaders formally launched a new party named Awaam Pakistan on Sunday.

Declaring it “open for all” to join, the Awaam Paksitan’s slogan is “Badlenge Nizam” (We Will Change the System), and its flag is green and blue with the party’s name written in white.

Senior political figures including Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Miftah Ismail, former Governor Sardar Mehtab Abbasi, former Federal Health Minister Dr. Zafar Mirza, former Punjab Provincial Minister Zaeem Qadri, and others were present at the launch event of the party, held in Islamabad.

Organizing committee member Fatima Atif said that the party has already held its intra-party elections on June 19, electing Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the party’s convener and Miftah Ismail as the secretary.

Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail pledged to change the governance system of the country and deny political space to the “tainted” politicians. “Politicians with tainted reputations won’t be a part of Awaam Pakistan,” Khaqan Abbasi said.

Miftah Ismail said the vision of his party was to provide Pakistanis with equal economic opportunities. “If you believe that we have the right to move forward […] then join us, we will stand with you and rebuild Pakistan,” the former federal minister added. “Awaam Pakistan would not follow hereditary politics or the concept of a messiah”.

Talking about the rotation among the party’s leadership, newly elected secretary Awaam Pakistan Miftah Ismail stated that no senior party member will serve more than two terms. “Nor will their children come and take their position. We are not going to have dynasties or cults of personality here, we will operate on merit.”

Former senior PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that politicians with tainted reputations won’t be a part of Awaam Pakistan,” said Khaqan, who served as prime minister during the PML-N’s 2013-18 stint in power, at the press conference in Islamabad flanked by Ismail and ex-PML-N leader Mehtab Abbasi.

At the launch event of the party today, Abbasi bashed the ruling party, saying that those who won elections based on “Form-47” — a reference to the alleged manipulation of the election results — can’t build the country.

“Politics has become more about keeping seats than serving the public,” Khaqan Abbasi said. “It is upsetting that we worry about our seats more than our country,” he said. “What moral authority do they have to resolve our problems?”

However, he expressed hope that the public “wish to be part of something better” and added that “the first step in a difficult journey has been taken”.