GUJRAT: Adviser to prime minister and senior PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira is striving hard to defuse the tension between the Kotla group of PML-N and PML-Q’s Chaudhry Musa Elahi, following a clash at the inauguration of Kotla Civil Hospital.

“I have recently talked to PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and MNA Abid Raza Kotla, separately, asking them to play a role in creating an atmosphere of peace and tranquility in the politics of Gujrat” Mr Kaira told the reporters at the Gujrat Press Club (GPC) here on Monday.

Gujrat PPP President Zia Mohiuddin, secretary general Dr Zahid Zaheer and others were also present when Mr Kaira visited the press club to felicitate its newly-elected president Basharat Lodhi and his cabinet.

Mr Kaira said that there was a time when political rivalries would turn into personal enmities, but the situation in Gujrat had changed in the last couple of decades when a culture of tolerance developed in local politics. However, he said, the tension and rhetoric by rival groups in the wake of Kotla hospital incident had been a cause of concern for every one.

He said he had met MNA Abid Raza Kotla of the PML-N and persuaded him to show tolerance, “since it was politics and not personal enmity.”

Similarly, he said, he had also held a meeting with the Chaudhary Shujaat and asked him to play a role to resolve the dispute.

Mr Kaira said there were some elements who did not want peace in the area and were creating misunderstandings among the rival political groups for their vested interest. The designs of such elements should be thwarted and any kind of tension be avoided, he suggested.

He said he would never be in favour of revoking Gujrat division, created by the previous

Punjab government, but at the same time would oppose depriving the farmers of their precious agricultural land for the sake of developing housing societies under the guise of establishing divisional complex or other uplift schemes.

The police had booked at least 234 people of Kotla group and some 30 others belonging to the PML-Q, including its leader Chaudhry Musa Elahi, following a violent clash between the supporters of the two parties at Kotla Civil Hospital on Jan 16 the last.

On Thursday last the local chapters of the PML-N and the PPP had staged a joint protest by blocking the GT Road against the Kotla incident and demanded action against those involved in the episode.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2023