LAHORE/KARACHI: The war of words between the PPP and the PML-N expanded beyond the provincial boundaries of Punjab on Sunday.

The first salvo was fired by Sindh Interior Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza who threatened that no office of the PML-N from Karachi to Kashmore would be safe if the PPP came under an undemocratic or illegal attack.

On the same day in Faisalabad, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif reiterated the PML-N’s line that the fate of the PPP ministers in the Punjab cabinet would be decided on Feb 22, which is a day earlier than the deadline given by the PML-N to the government to implement its “reform agenda”.

Talking to reporters at the residence of Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, the chief minister went so far as to say that the meeting to depose the PPP ministers would be held in Islamabad.

Mr Sharif’s words did not take anyone by surprise as the party’s Punjab leadership had already said this before in so many words. In fact, just a day earlier Mr Sanaullah had asserted that the PML-N government in the province would remove the PPP from the coalition government over the federal government’s failure to implement the ‘reforms agenda’.

However, the outburst from Mr Mirza was unexpected. The interior minister in recent days had not given too many fiery statements since his controversial speech in December in which he had alleged that target killers, who had created instability in Karachi, were members of the MQM. The relations between the MQM and the PPP after his speech had become strained enough for the former to leave the coalition government at the centre.

After that reports had suggested that President Asif Ali Zardari had ordered Mr Mirza, who is a close friend, to keep quiet.

Mr Mirza resurfaced on Friday when he was part of the PPP delegation that visited nine zero, the MQM headquarters, as a goodwill gesture.

A mere two days after that he hit the headlines yet again with his latest speech, though this one focused largely on the PML-N.

Given during a public meeting in Karachi’s Lyari area, he hurled a number of threats and warnings at the PML-N, which indicated that it was a planned attack. He said that those known for the ‘politics of Changa Manga’ were unaware of the politics of principle and honour.

He added that if the PPP came under an undemocratic or illegal attack, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif would not be able to hold any programme in Sindh, except in the Hyderabad mental hospital.

They must remember that if there could be a long march from Lahore to Islamabad, a similar march could also be held from Sindh to Lahore, he said.

Mr Mirza also drew a comparison between the politics of the two parties by saying that the difference between the Muslim League and the PPP was that the People’s Party was taking along even its ideological opponents, while in Punjab it was being pushed out of the provincial government.

However, Mr Mirza did not limit his attack to the PML-N and even lashed out at the dissidents within his own party. He claimed that the late Benazir Bhutto had called him and his wife Fehmida Mirza, the current National Assembly speaker, and spoke to them about getting rid of her close aides Naheed Khan and Dr Safdar Abbasi.

It needs to be remembered that Naheed Khan and Mr Abbasi have been sidelined by the current leadership of the PPP.

He warned that those conspiring to divide the PPP should remember that if former chief minister Arbab Rahim could be attacked with a shoe, they too could get a similar treatment.

The Sindh minister also spared a few words for PPP supporters in Lyari as he assured them that as long as he was present, the Rangers and police would not be allowed to carry out raids in any part of Karachi, including Lyari.

Mr Mirza said voice would be raised at every level for the rights of the residents of Lyari and that boxing and health clubs would be set up for the youth of the area.