LAHORE: Scuffles and slogan shouting workers of some political parties marred two ceremonies that had been held to pay tribute to Quaid-i-Azam on his birth anniversary.
The ceremonies so disrupted were held at Aiwan-i-Karkunan and Aiwan-i-Iqbal.
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was the chief guest at the one held at Aiwan-e-Karkunan. Sharif was in the middle of his address when a female PML-N worker tried to make her way to the stage. According to witnesses, the security staff stopped her from going towards the stage. However, she ignored the security guard and tried to get past him.
The woman was pushed by the guards and fell to the ground. A number of female workers were infuriated with the security guards and started shouting in protest.
They then criticised their leaders on the stage by shouting, “We, the activists of the party, have been sacrificing our lives. Why aren’t we allowed near the stage?” Though some of the PML-N leaders intervened and tried to placate the angry women, their efforts bore no fruit.
Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, the chief minister left the venue in the middle of the programme.
The other incident occurred at Aiwan-i-Iqbal, where supporters of three major parties PML-N, PPP and PML-Q were responsible for it.
As a result the ceremony was concluded well before its scheduled time.
The ceremony was to start at 10 am but began at 12:30 pm.
As the ceremony began, the supporters of PPP and PML-Q started chanting slogans in favour of their leaders.
A small number of PML-N supporters also followed suit. Though PML-N supporters were outnumbered initially, larger groups trickled in a while later. “The PML-N leader, Khawaja Saad Rafique, made a number of phone calls to call additional supporters after he saw that PML-N was outnumbered,” a supporter of a rival party said.
The situation became worse when Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain took the rostrum for his speech and PML-Q supporters stared dancing and chanting slogans in his favour and against the ruling parties. PML-N supporters retaliated in a similar manner. The slogan chanting soon turned into name calling and criticism of each others’ party leaders. The host, Nurul Hasan, requested the participants repeatedly to refrain from behaving in such a manner and to keep in mind that they were celebrating the birth anniversary of the founder of Pakistan. But no one listened to his pleas and the programme was brought to an early conclusion.
Chief minister’s address
During a public meeting after the inauguration of the first mobile health unit of Punjab, manufactured at a cost of Rs5.5 billion, at Daira Deen Panah, Muzaffargarh, the chief minister stressed the importance of justice. “Quaid’s ideals cannot be achieved without justice,” he said. He also criticised the federal government, “Corruption is rampant today. People’s hard earned money is being looted and even the Hajis were not spared.”
“December 25 reminds us of that great leader under whose leadership the movement for a separate homeland was launched. But today we have failed Quaid-i-Azam. As God is my witness, I swear that I will not rest until I transform the devastation into prosperity. By doing what I promise I won’t be doing anyone a favour, just my duty,” Sharif said in his usual orator’s style.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 26th, 2010.
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