LAST Wednesday, the federal government expressed a desire to take up the issue of the latest Difaa-i-Pakistan Council meeting with the Punjab government. This was at best a political statement for the consumption of an assorted audience - in the absence of an administrative arrangement that would oblige provinces to respond to the centre's queries in such matters. The issue was the participation of a leader of a 'banned' group in the DPC rally in Multan on Jan 29. Given that eyebrows have been raised about the recently founded DPC and its politics, the presence of Malik Ishaq, the leader of the 'banned' and very militant Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, could not go unnoticed by the PPP-led government. The latter took the opportunity to follow up on the N League-LJ thread that goes back to the League's public courting of prominent Lashkar members for votes in a by-election in Jhang some time ago. The highlighting of the link catered to all those who are upset with the mixing of national politics with various brands of jihadis. Equally or perhaps even more importantly, it was an opportunity for the PPP to try and hit at the PML-N's credibility with jihad-wary international players.

This is surely not a matter of principles, for principles are as routinely flouted in Pakistani politics as bans are violated and 'defunct tags' worn as medals of gallantry. Basically, it has to do with how political parties here - those in power and their challengers - go about identifying and pleasing their allies in a particular situation. The current PML-N government in Punjab has generally kept its distance from the PPP-led set-up in Islamabad. Punjab has been particularly keen to show off this gap over the centre's approach to the war against militancy. This gap will increase as the election comes closer and the manoeuvring for power intensifies.