Act of desperation

THE efforts by PML(Q) President Ch Shujaat Hussain and former Punjab CM Ch Pervaiz Elahi to gain some ground among the mainstream political parties appear to be an act of desperation. Both stressed the need for dialogue among democratic forces in their separate media interactions in Lahore on Wednesday. Ch Shujaat described the merger of Muslim Leagues as an encouraging development and called for unity of thought and action among all parties while his cousin seriously doubted the PML(N) leadership's sincerity in bringing together all the League factions. Replying to a question at a press conference he said Ghous Ali Shah and Ishaq Dar had approached the PML(Q) leadership before the presidential election to get support for Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui, and since then there had been no contact between the two parties. Perhaps he did not feel the need to elaborate how many times his party had approached other factions seeking a merger.

The former CM must have forgotten the treatment his government had meted out to political opponents when he scathingly criticized the Punjab Government for victimizing his party workers throughout the province. There is no disputing his assertion that a democratic attitude must be reflected in actions of political leaders. But if he was referring to the ruling party's attempt to create dissention in the PML(Q) by supporting the Forward Bloc in it, he should keep in mind that it was during his stint that the Punjab witnessed the worst horsetrading. Those who agreed to switch over to the government were rewarded with lucrative positions, while those who refused were implicated in false cases.