- Hamza Shahbaz, Rana Sanaullah warn PPP’s young leader against indulging in political point-scoring
- PPP leader says PML-N govt should cleanse Punjab of terrorist outfit instead of giving ‘explanation’
Where the recent threat to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto brought the PML-N and PPP leadership face to face, it has also put a big question mark over the forthcoming visit of the PPP leader to Lahore and other parts of Punjab.
Sources in the PPP disclosed that the decision whether Bilawal would travel to Lahore in April or not, would be taken at the party’s meeting in Larkana on the occasion of death anniversary of its founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
“The issue would be deliberated upon in Larkana, with all the bigwigs of the party in attendance. We will also see as to how the security of the PPP leaders could be ensured,” PPP leader Fawad Chaudhry told Pakistan Today.
It was learnt that the PPP leadership was not easy in entrusting the security of Bilawal and other leaders to Punjab Police completely, as the assassination of former governor Salman Taseer was carried out by his own security guard.
Fawad made it clear there would not be any postponement of the PPP chairman’s visit on account of the recent threat, adding that the final date of his visit had not been finalised yet.
Bilawal Bhutto has stirred a storm in the political quarters after revealing through Twitter that he received a threatening letter from Lashkar-e-Jangvi, a banned terror outfit based in Punjab. In his message, he said if anything happened to him, its onus would entirely be on the Punjab government.
This statement has left bad taste in the mouth of PML-N leaders, though initially, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif responded quite sympathetically to the news, asking the Punjab IG to contact Bilawal and address his concerns. But later on, Hamza Shahbaz left no stone unturned to negate the goodwill gesture.
“I think Bilawal should think before issuing statements,” Hamza said, adding that political point-scoring over terrorism and Tharparkar drought “would be counterproductive”.
Hamza Shahbaz said that although he prayed for Bilawal’s safety and long life, the young Bhutto should not indulge in politics over matters of national security.
He also said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif could also have done political point-scoring on the matter of Tharparkar deaths, but he chose to go and console with the people of Thar instead.
Similarly, Punjab ministers Rana Sanaullah and Rana Mashood also made statements after Bilawal’s message on Twitter, reminding the PPP leader not to involve the Punjab government in his “point-scoring agendas”.
Meanwhile, Hamza’s statement has created intense reaction both in Sindh and in Punjab, with Fawad Chaudhary saying that Hamza Shahbaz and Rana Sanaullah issuing such statements when Bilawal is being threatened by LeJ, “sends the impression as if they speak for the banned outfit”. Fawad added that Rana Sanaullah had earlier admitted that there were 150 sleeping cells of LeJ in Punjab.
“Instead of issuing statements, the Punjab government should go after these cells,” Fawad said.
PPP leader Manzoor Wattoo too condemned the threat to Bilawal Bhutto asking the Punjab government to ensure foolproof security to the PPP chairsperson during his forthcoming visit to Punjab.
