ISLAMABAD, April 10: Both the government and the opposition on Thursday blamed an unexplained conspiracy for the latest political violence in Karachi and Lahore with Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani vowing in the National Assembly to “bring the culprits to justice” and not let “anti-democratic forces” succeed.
The opposition, comprising parties of the previous ruling coalition decimated in February’s general elections, began an indefinite boycott of the first regular session of the lower house after speeches by their leaders.
But a process of a post-election political reconciliation initiated by the PPP-led coalition government seemed to remain intact despite doubts voiced after assaults on two prominent supporters of President Pervez Musharraf and Wednesday’s deadly violence in Karachi.
“We must take notice of these unjustified, mischievous and apparently conspiratorial acts,” Mr Gilani said in a prepared speech after opposition leader Chaudhry Pervez Elahi of the formerly ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) led his coalition to storm out of the house at the start of their boycott against what he called “this big injustice and excesses against our colleagues”.
“These acts, I am convinced, are being fuelled by those who do not want democracy to flourish,” the prime minister said.
“Instead they want to derail the democratic process through which this government is aspiring to bring about consensus and national cohesion,” he said.
“Through this august forum, I can assure the nation in general and this house in particular, that we will not allow these anti-democratic forces to succeed in their unholy attempts,” Mr Gilani said.
Mr Elahi and deputy opposition leader Haider Abbas Rizvi of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, in their speeches earlier, also affirmed their parties’ adherence to the reconciliation process and spoke of a conspiracy at work when they referred to the mob roughing up of former Sindh chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim (at the provincial assembly in Karachi on Monday) and former parliamentary affairs minister Sher Afgan Niazi (in Lahore on Tuesday) and Wednesday’s violence in Karachi.
But as the prime minister did after them, the two opposition speakers avoided finger-pointing, contrary to some opposition outbursts outside parliament against the parties of the new ruling coalition.
EYEBROWS RAISED: However, many eyebrows were raised when PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who was defeated in the both National Assembly constituencies where he contested in the Feb 18 elections, took his seat in the Speaker’s Gallery of the house with Mr Afgan seated on his right and Mr Rahim on his left. The trio stayed there only to hear the opposition speeches and left the gallery as the opposition walked out.
Some student activists of the PML, carrying banners with slogans like “black democracy unacceptable” and “murderous democracy unacceptable”, had reached the front gate of the parliament house, but the assembly authorities did not allow any visitors in the general galleries apparently to avoid scenes of disorder witnessed at the Sindh Assembly.
PM REAFFIRMS RECONCILIATION: In his speech, Prime Minister Gilani said the corner-stone of his coalition government’s policies was “in fact based on the principles of non-violence, reconciliation and taking everybody along towards strengthening and ensuring the supremacy of parliament”.
He told the house that before specifically naming anybody being responsible, it was imperative to clearly establish the motive and “expose the faces of those behind these incidents. We have, therefore, decided to inquire and thoroughly investigate all aspects of these events. We shall Insha-Allah bring the culprits to justice.”
He said while the Punjab government had already constituted a three-member committee of civil and police officers to establish facts, his adviser on interior Rehman A. Malik was in Karachi to personally monitor the situation there.
“Let it be known to the nation, as well as the world, that we will not allow the sacrifices made by our great leaders Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed, and thousands of others in the cause of democracy to be compromised at the behest of dictatorship, conspiracy and violence.”
The prime minister appealed to all sections of the society for restraint and accommodation and adherence to law, warning: “If we do not do that we may again be subjected to the dark years of tyranny and dictatorship from which we have just started to come out.”
Mr Elahi said earlier the prime minister should have taken strong action against the Karachi and Lahore incidents which, according to him, seemed to be a “pre-planned conspiracy”.
But he and Mr Rizvi said the prime minister would still enjoy the opposition confidence in his positive steps. “But our cooperation should not be misconstrued as our weakness,” Mr Elahi said.
SPEAKER’S CONTRAST: In contrast to delay and often-complained outright partisanship shown by her predecessor, National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza seemed to be moving with speed and discretion.She lost no time in notifying Mr Elahi as opposition leader at the start of the first day of the assembly’s first regular session.
Dr Mirza’s predecessor Chaudhry Amir Hussain of the PML had refused to name PPP leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim as opposition leader in the previous National Assembly despite his nomination by the majority of opposition members and then took more than a year to deliver that prestigious office to minority-supported Maulana Fazlur Rehman after the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal alliance helped the passage of the controversial 17th constitutional amendment in December 2003 that legitimised General Pervez Musharraf’s presidency and his assumption of sweeping powers by decree.
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