close
Thursday March 28, 2024

End of PML-N-PTI fracas not in sight

By Tariq Butt
March 12, 2017

ISLAMABAD: The scuffle marked by punching of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) legislator Javed Latif by temperamental lawmaker Murad Saeed of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) reflects the deep-seated extreme spite, bordering personal enmity, which has crept in between the two parties over the past four years.

There is no end in sight to this sordid affair. It has every possibility to aggravate in the months to come with the 2018 general elections approaching. Sanity will prevail only if the top leaders of the two sides realise that such incidents bring no good name to Parliament as well as national politics. But it is also a hard fact that tension had always been high between the PML-N and PTI since the 2013 general elections were held. Triggered by the electoral results, it has always been intensifying, observing no limits.

Javed Latif had won on the political and moral front by receiving the slap with the PTI having been comprehensively damaged. But what highly despicable and unprintable he uttered after the sorry episode greatly dented his image and standing, exposing him fully.

However, he passed these contemptible remarks after he and Murad Saeed had been disentangled by other MPs, averting the situation from worsening further. Had he not made these comments (a 22-second video clip containing them) went viral on the social media late night. But he is also heard saying in this clip at least thrice that he did not want to say such things. But the question is what compulsion he faced to vent out such soiled things except that he could not control his rage after Murad Saeed’s pouncing on him.

Before his highly insulting comments against the PTI MP’s relatives, which were obviously made because of extreme anger after he had been slapped by Murad Saeed, what he stated on the floor of the National Assembly was well-reasoned, rational and logical. He ought to have confined himself to it to save the damage to him by his subsequent talk.

While taking on the PTI chairman, Javed Latif had said in the National Assembly that if Sheikh Mujeebur Rehman and Altaf Hussain were dubbed traitors for issuing calls of civil disobedience movements, lockdowns and shutter-downs, why Imran Khan can’t be given the same title if he also sponsors such adventures. “Unfortunately, Imran Khan says his inane protests are meant to build a new Pakistan.”

Murad Saeed, who showed extreme loyalty to Imran Khan, was needlessly irked by Javed Latif’s comments passed inside the National Assembly because the PTI chief had been repeatedly saying much, much more lethal, stinging and intolerable things against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and many other respectable political leaders, other figures and institutions. But none of his victims or their supporters has ever dared to resort to physical violence. In fact, the new sleazy lexicon introduced in Pakistan’s politics is beholden to Imran Khan’s outbursts. The dilemma is that he doesn’t retract even his most controversial, misplaced remarks, like calling useless the respected foreign players, who were part of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) final played in Lahore, which severely hurt sentiments of all and sundry.

He has stated that the premier is soft on India, is most corrupt, is a friend of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and what not, the abuses that have not been heard from senior politicians in the past several years. He never tires in painting Nawaz Sharif as anti-Pakistan, anti-national interest and pro-India.Instead of infusing sanity in Murad Saeed, the pretty young man from Swat, who loses his temper at the spur of the moment, Imran Khan showered kudos on him for the job well done by punching Javed Latif, and said he would have done much more had he been in his place. This demonstrated how sensitive and furious he was over the PML-N’s remarks against him in the National Assembly. He had patted his comrade on the back even before knowing what Javed Latif had uttered after the scuffle that was no doubt insufferable and unacceptable. It would have been appreciable had the PTI chairman advised Murad Saeed to show restraint and tolerance and retaliate to the attacks on him verbally instead of physically.

Murad Saeed, who is unstoppable when he started speaking, has frequently locked into verbal and physical fights with his rivals in noisy TV talk shows. His faithfulness and commitment to Imran Khan is understandable, but he is required to be patient while facing criticism keeping in mind what his leader has been saying against others.