Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s outburst against President Asif Ali Zardari in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) protest rally in Lahore on Friday has landed the party in troubled waters, with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement jumping in to heat things up with an announcement to stage a rally in Karachi today (Sunday) against the use of derogatory remarks against President Asif Zardari by Shahbaz, cornering the PML-N further as the party has already lost sleep over the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s planned protest rally at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore also on Sunday.
With Imran Khan infiltrating into the PML-N home ground Lahore, the party’s future prospect in the country’s financial capital Karachi appear not so bright, as the MQM is likely to turn out an intimidating show of force in support of Zardari, which could be reminiscent of the party’s rally in favour of former president Pervez Musharraf on May 12, 2007. MQM chief Altaf Hussain told a public meeting at Lal Qila Ground, Karachi, that the younger Sharif should hold back his tongue, else he knew well how to correct language.
“It is the right of the PML-N leadership to protest, but they should keep their mouth shut if they can only use such abusive language,” he said. “MQM will fight against any conspiracy against the democratic process that has been started by the PML-N and will strongly protest against abusive language used against President Zardari.” Altaf also telephoned President Zardari, deploring Shahbaz’s rant and announcing his complete support for the continuity of democracy in the country. He said the MQM would stand by the government and face all challenges.
Zardari thanked Altaf for his support, and according to a PPP handout, a six–member PPP Sindh delegation would participate in the MQM rally. The members of the delegation would include Taj Haider, Agha Siraj Durrani, Manzoor Wasan, Professor ND Khan, Najmi Alam, Rashid Rabbani, Waqar Mehdi and Rafique Engineer. The PPP Sindh government also fuelled the anti-PML-N fire, announcing to lift Section 144 in Karachi for two days in order to accommodate the MQM rally.
A private TV channel reported that unidentified people set on fire PML-N offices in Kandhkot, Jacobabad and Hyderabad, raising fears of an escalation in violence. But the PML-N would have been less worried if the trouble had been as far away from home as Karachi. The party had already been perturbed by and taking stock of the PTI’s growing popularity in Punjab and the MQM’s announcement to stage a rally today in Karachi, coupled with Imran Khan’s promised show of muscle in Lahore, is sure to break a PML-N sweat.
PTI delegations of workers had started arriving in Lahore from across Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and even Azad Kashmir on Saturday.
Stage set for political showdown
