Politics of politeness: ‘PML-N won’t forget anti-Punjab words’

Party spokesperson Ahsan Iqbal slams govt over petroleum price hike.

KARACHI: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Ahsan Iqbal refrained from taking names during a news conference on Saturday. But he made it clear that the party wants an apology.

“They degraded 56 per cent of the population and their party leadership should take action against that,” said Iqbal at the press club. Referring to the statements made against the PML-N, he said: “We will forgive what they said about the party”. He added that their party’s politics was based on politeness and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif never abandoned this policy.

The issue of target killings in Karachi is between the government and its coalition partners, he said. “The government must solve this problem permanently with the mutual consent of both its coalition partners.”

He believed that such price hikes will make the economy weaker and gave a comparison of India and Bangladesh, whose economies are getting stronger every day. “We are going down because we have accepted the compromised leadership of the NRO, which is a product of the Musharraf regime,” he said.

Iqbal suggested the government curtail its cabinet members, cut down ministerial expenses, remove corrupt and unqualified officers and replace them with competent professionals to save the country. “The country will face a social cold war if the government does not reduce its unnecessary expenses,” he said.

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