It wasn’t any other political party creating problems for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Mian Nawaz Sharif on the first day of his visit to Sindh, but in fact, his own: activists from two factions of the PML-N in Sindh came to blows at the airport as well as the hotel where their leader was lodged. There are two important groups in PML-N Sindh: one is led by Syed Ghous Ali Shah while the other is headed by Saleem Zia and Mamnoon Hussain.
Both groups arrived separately at the Quaid-e-Azam International Airport to welcome Nawaz Sharif, but soon started to raise slogans against each other. The situation became ugly when the PML-N groups reached the hotel where Sharif was scheduled to stay and hold meetings with delegations, party workers and leaders. Activists of both groups started manhandling each other, even shattering the glass of the hotel’s windows. Senior leaders then had to intervene and calm the warring groups.
Sharif told journalists that he heard some unpleasant incidents took place but “nothing happened before him.” After discussions with senior journalists, Sharif met with Captain Haleem Siddiqui – a leader who had quit the party but had come to meet with his leader. Syed Ghous Ali Shah has been trying to bring Siddiqui back into the fold of the party.
