Seeking answers: PML-N submits motion in NA to debate attacks on offices

Chairman demands federal govt to stop attacking party offices.

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has submitted an adjournment motion in the National Assembly against the torching of its offices and the persecution of its workers in Sindh by political rivals.

Bearing signatures of some 20 PML-N lawmakers, the motion seeks debate over the attacks in the next NA session that begins on November 14. “This is a negation of political parties’ rights and is a matter of grave concern,” says the motion, which was filed on Tuesday.

Earlier, PML-N Chairman Senator Raja Zafarul Haq addressed a press conference, criticising the Pakistan Peoples Party which he said is responsible for attacks on 12 PML-N offices in Sindh. He demanded the federal government to stop attacking PML-N offices and penalise offenders.

Flanked by Senator Mushahidullah Khan and Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Haq condemned the attacks and warned that, “Involvement of state machinery in attacks on offices of a political party will have far-reaching repercussions.”

He said the attacks were a major threat to democracy. “Dictatorship is not all about uniformed generals, rather it is an intolerant mindset.”

Responding to a question on the attack on PTI’s office in Lahore, the PML-N leader said that he will ask the Punjab government to hold an inquiry and bring perpetrators to justice. “One should accept that Imran Khan managed to draw a large crowd. It is his constitutional right to hold protest rallies,” he said.

Haq said the PML-N will extend the “Go Zardari Go” movement to other parts of the country and like all other mass campaigns, it will culminate in the federal capital. He dispelled the impression that his party had utilised the Punjab government’s resources for organising a public rally in Lahore on October 28.

The veteran PML-N leader censured the government for failing to check corruption in state-owned enterprises like Pakistan Railways and Pakistan International Airlines, and said it had appointed dishonest officials to head them. “The PML-N wants the government to eradicate corruption, solve the power crisis and improve governance, but the ruling coalition seems indifferent to people’s problems. Corruption and mismanagement is on the rise.”

Responding to a question on whether the PML-N’s ongoing campaign was aimed at toppling the government, he said that when people no longer want it to rule the country, even an elected government should give up power.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2011.