LAHORE, March 4: Unbelievable. Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi led a rally on the issue of blasphemous cartoons and legislators from the ruling party, the ARD and the MMA participated. “Allah is Great”, they chanted as they followed the chief minister.
What made the development more significant was that only a few days ago effort in the National Assembly for a similar show of unity on the issue of religious importance had failed. The opposition wanted the prime minister to lead a protest against the sacrilegious sketches, but he did not agree for reasons best known to him.
For the Punjab chief minister the feat was two-fold. First he got a resolution against the cartoons passed by the Punjab Assembly, without entertaining the additions proposed by the opposition. Then he led the rally, though only for a short distance.
The resolution condemned the cartoons and sought punitive action against the makers. So far so good. But it also condemned the violence and vandalism on the day of the protest — Feb 14.
Though the resolution did not name anyone, it was clear that the chief minister was referring to the opposition parties which had organised the rally and whose leaders and workers had been arrested or detained subsequently.
Opposition leader Qasim Zia understood who the chief minister was holding responsible for the Feb 14 tragic incidents. He stood up on a point of order to seek permission to make some additions to the resolution.
But the ever-alert law minister Raja Basharat opposed the idea, arguing that a two-day notice was required before moving any amendment or addition to the resolution the treasury had sought to table after seeking suspension of relevant rules.
“Don’t try to politicise the matter”, said Raja, flanked by Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi and communications minister Chaudhry Zaheeruddin. When MMA’s Asghar Gujjar stressed that the opposition should be taken along, Deputy Speaker Shaukat Mazari made a passionate appeal to the house not to politicise what was essentially a religious issue. “For God’s sake, let the resolution be tabled and we’ll listen to your point of view during the debate”, he said.
The chief minister explained the efforts made by the government at various levels to condemn the cartoons and to ensure that the provocative act was never repeated anywhere. Opposition leader Qasim Zia proposed that victimisation of political opponents, arrests and detentions made since Feb 14 should also be condemned through the resolution.
The PML-N parliamentary party leader Rana Sanaullah Khan said the issue should not be used for political point scoring. He regretted that even those people had been arrested or detained who had nothing to do with the Feb 14 violence. When he sought release of all innocent people, the chief minister was quick to say no.
“Let’s not amend the resolution. Let’s adopt it in its present form, and I assure you that we’ll discuss the cases (instituted since Feb 14) with the opposition,” he said, adding he did not want an innocent person to be detained even for a day.
The resolution was tabled and unanimously approved by the house. Thereafter, the chief minister led the rally.
A few days ago, ruling party leaders complained at a meeting that the opposition had hijacked the cartoons issue by holding a rally on Feb 14 and observing protest days subsequently. One of the participants was of the view that the only way left for the PML to deprive the opposition of the issue was for the chief minister to lead a rally.
But another member citing concern about the security of the chief minister vehemently opposed the idea.
The Saturday development showed that nobody had the remotest hint that the chief minister would not only lead the rally but the opposition would also be with him in it.
Anyone with any sense will tell you that the destiny of the country could change if the ruling party and the opposition played their respective roles, showing unity on important national issues and desisting from mudslinging.