Friday, 24 October 2014

Mounting political intolerance

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Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) workers on Thursday stormed the hotel in Multan where Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rasheed was due to address a press conference and raised anti-Imran and anti-Sheikh Rasheed slogans. N League workers also threw stones, rotten eggs at the building and tore down Sheikh Rasheed’s campaign posters. A number of PML-N workers also surrounded the Multan Press Club where Sheikh Rasheed was due to address the media and threw rotten eggs and stones.
PML-N Multan leader, Billal (Billu) Butt, said that Sheikh Rashid deserved to be treated like this. He said that Sheikh Rashid deserved to be treated like this. Rashid, while talking to various private TV channels from the hotel said that PMLN leadership had sent these hooligans under the auspices of police only to scare him away. He was of the view that he was seeing situations far worse than this and a bunch of hired goons cannot make him change his mind and he expressed his views in the press conference latter. PMLN workers, who were chanting slogans like ‘Sheeda Talli Haye Haye’, ‘Ro Imran Ro’, ‘Go Imran Go’ etc, also showered eggs on the hotel doors and posters bearing Rashid and other leaders.
It is not the first incident of intolerance in the recent political turmoil in the country; leaders of the political parties are encouraging their supporters and workers to involve in violent activities to embarrass the other political parties. Daughter of the Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif seems busy in provoking the workers of PML N to get aggressive against anti-government elements in the country. In spite of condemning the shameful act of the workers of the party, Maryam Nawaz backed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz workers who attacked and tweeted in the social website that, “Now N-leaguers from Lahore and Islamabad should also show some honor (by following the daring example of PML-N Multan). She expressed that time is nigh when Imran Khan will fear stepping out of the container”.
On the one hand, leaders of the PML N are trying to get all the credit for showing political flexibility to let the protesters demonstrating in the capital, outside the parliament building but on the other, leaders are encouraging to the workers to get brutal and attack the anti-government protesters. Quite surprisingly the notion ‘Go Nawaz Go’ has gone viral. Nawaz Sharif went to Kashmir and the people assembled there hurled ‘Go Nawaz Go’. Later on he went to Sargodha and received the same response from the public. Protesters also gathered outside the United Nations (U.N) headquarters and chanted ‘Go Nawaz Go’ slogans when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was there to address to the General Assembly of UN. The slogan of ‘Go Nawaz Go’ haunted Pakistan’s Prime Minister even in New York as PTI and PAT workers reached the building well before Nawaz Sharif. Holding placards in their hands, the protesters demanded his resignation with the slogan of ‘Go Nawaz Go’. This slogan has created annoyance in the party leadership of the PML N and they are passing embarrassing statements in retaliation to answer go nawaz go slogan.
The rising vicious trends in the politics of the country would not leave a good impact on the masses and it would damage the democracy. It is a free country and laws permit free association with any political party and also freedom of speech and expression of thoughts. But the Political leaders and workers of all the parties must act with in the boundaries of decency. They must also give a second thought to their aggressive behaviors against each others.

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