An olive branch?

NOW that the future of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir legislature appears a lot clearer, it seems a need is being felt to cool down the raised political temperatures between the two coalition partners at the centre. On Saturday, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, addressing a party convention in Murree, suggested that “political differences between rivals should never turn into animosity”.

It was immediately clear he was addressing the deepening differences between the PPP and the PML-N. Indeed, he took up the bitterness between the two parties head-on, describing the PPP’s complaints of rigging and administrative meddling as “upsetting”. “I was upset over their losses, and I have good relations with them personally,” Nawaz reflected during his speech. “If they were defeated, we must look at the reasons why.”

It remains to be seen how his olive branch will be received. The PPP’s young chairman had previously seethed publicly over his losses, and the war of words showed no signs of abating on Sunday, with the party’s information secretary saying it would only accept the results of “free and fair elections”, while comparing the AJK polls to previous controversial ones in Punjab.

Still, many believe the two parties will find themselves at the same table once the election fever subsides. Their rivalry seems more performative than deep-rooted, especially given the stakes involved.

Whatever its protestations about the PML-N’s conduct, the fact remains that the PPP is entrenched in the ruling configuration. It appears unlikely that it will sabotage the arrangement at the centre, no matter how acutely it might be feeling its electoral losses in AJK at present.

The elder Nawaz’s remarks, too, merely expressed a wish for their relationship to return to what it was. Tellingly, his goodwill was not meant for the opposition but only for the PML-N’s partner in the current set-up.

That is the real disappointment: reconciliation, to Nawaz, appears to mean restoring his closed arrangement with the PPP, not widening the political space for everyone. The inertia that has stifled all political energy is, therefore, not going anywhere. This is not to say that it will be smooth sailing.

There is tension running beneath the surface over rumours of an administrative reconfiguration of the state. This may well be the challenge that actually tests the PPP-PML-N partnership.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2026