PPP, PML-N leaders lash out over terrorism

Tensions between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) rose on Sunday as PPP information secretary Fouzia Wahab insinuated that the PML-N won elections with support from extremists.

Her comments came as PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif said that the Punjab government was not getting adequate intelligence on terrorists from the federal government.

Talking to Express News, Wahab said: “There has always been a nexus between the PML-N and religious elements across the country. The PML-N succeeded in the 2008 elections due to their support.”

“I think the PML-N has always had connections to religious fundamentalists, whether they are the Jamaat-i-Islami or the Anjuman Sipah-i-Sahaba or the Lashkar-e-Taiba.”

Earlier, while addressing a press conference Nawaz Sharif had said that since the Americans were considering holding talks with the Taliban, maybe the federal government should do the same.

Sharif said that political parties should stop blaming each other for the country’s problems and should avoid using discussions on terrorism to score points with the public.

“It is regrettable... that politicians are trying to score points on the issue of terror,” he said.

Earlier in the week the PPP information secretary had criticised Sharif for his ‘lavish spending’ and asked that he account for the money spent on his home in Raiwand. She had added that the PPP believed in winning elections through fair means and not through bribery.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2010.