Traitor?: Khosa lashes out at estranged Awan

Rivalry between Khosa, Awan heightens after office of Punjab governor was vacated after Salmaan Taseer’s murder.

LAHORE:

While his attack on the opposition and judiciary on Saturday was nothing out of the ordinary for him, Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khan Khosa’s targeting of fellow Pakistan Peoples Party member Babar Awan was telling.

Khosa didn’t hold back in expressing strong disapproval for the already sidelined Awan, whom he referred to as a “traitor”. Interestingly, while it has never been publicly acknowledged why the once all-important Awan had been sidelined, Khosa became the first PPP leader to publicly attack the former law minister.

Addressing the media at the Lahore Press Club on Saturday, Khosa called the estranged PPP leader a hypocrite and alleged that he had formed biases against his own leadership at the behest of ‘somebody’.

Khosa also likened Awan and law secretary Masood Chishti to Mir Jaffar and Mir Sadiq (historically known as traitors for siding with the British) and said: “On whose directives did they refuse to testify (in the prime minister’s contempt case) and make the file disappear? Contempt cases against them will be postponed date after date and no verdict will ever be given.”

According to members of Khosa’s close circle, some PPP leaders believe Awan had approached Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry seeking a pardon over his contempt case, after which he became party with the the chief justice of Pakistan against President Asif Ali Zardari. They further alleged that they believed the chief justice had asked Awan not to appear before the court in Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s contempt case.

Sources said that Khosa and President Zardari had agreed that Awan’s actions prove he is a pawn, and added that the governor’s statement against Awan on Saturday was deliberately issued on the president’s directives.

The rivalry between Khosa and Awan heightened after the office of the Punjab governor was vacated following Salmaan Taseer’s assassination. Similar clashes between the two were witnessed in bar councils and over the office of the attorney general of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Khosa also joined the chorus of those speaking out against the judiciary and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz following the Supreme Court’s conviction of the prime minister in a contempt case.

He said no one, except for the speaker of the National Assembly, has the right to declare the prime minister ineligible. “Parliament is supreme and all courts are subject to it,” he said, adding that the Parliament also has the power to reject the contempt of court decision.

“Who gave Nawaz Sharif the right to interpret the contempt of court verdict?” asked the governor, in reference to the PML-N chief’s call for the prime minister’s immediate resignation. “Is the detailed verdict being written by him or is it being written on his directive?” He said that if the judiciary wanted to do justice, it should do so in a fair manner.

“Stay orders on the Sharifs’ cases and seven judges on Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) cases – this joke on the nation should stop.”

“Is this the Supreme Court of Pakistan or Sharif brothers,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 29^th, 2012.