News
Thursday, July 08, 2010
PML-N leadership seriously cross over Fazal Karim
* Party leadership observes JUP leader was first to launch hate campaign against Punjab govt after Data Darbar attacks
Special Correspondent
LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership has decided to call a spade a spade as regards Maulana Fazal Karim, the chief of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP), after his opposition to the PML-N Punjab government following the tragic attack on Data Darbar.
In a meeting held on Monday, the PML-N leadership reviewed the situation after the attack on the shrine that resulted in the killing of 44 people and injured another 150.
The meeting noticed that Karim was the first person who launched an “anti-PML-N leadership movement” after the attacks.
The participants of the meeting were angry over Karim, saying he was the head of a faction of a small religious party, but had contested elections on a PML-N ticket from Faisalabad.
The meeting was told by an officer of the provincial administration that after the tragic attack on Data Darbar, everybody was in a state of sorrow and the emotions of the public were running high. The need of the hour was to console and calm the people, but Karim reacted strangely and demanded the resignation of the Punjab government.
A senior political figure said the reaction of PML-N’s political rival PPP was much more sensible. “Though the language of a few ministers of the PPP was hard, they did not directly demand any sort of action against the Punjab government,” the PML-N leader said.
Another political figure and a member of the Punjab Assembly said that Karim tried to settle his score with Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah through his comments. Narrating the history of Karim’s bad blood with Sanaullah, the PML-N leader said Karim got a summary moved for the allotment of a piece of land near Arshad Market, Faisalabad, adding that the one-kanal piece of land was worth millions.
The Punjab law minister opposed the allotment of the land to Karim and the summary could not get the approval of the competent authority. Karim developed a grudge against Sanaullah after the incident.
In another incident that took place on the occasion of Eid Miladun Nabi, the secretary to Fazal Karim and two others were booked by the police and sent to jail on charges of burning the house of Maulana Zahid Qasmi, a religious leader of another sect.
In the local politics of Faisalabad, Rana Sanullah and Fazl Karim are traditional rivals.
Following the incident, Karim began a verbal assault on the PML-N government in Punjab and demanded the resignation of Law Minister Sanaullah, who was in the United Kingdom at the time, with a high-level delegation from Punjab that had gone there to study anti-terrorism measures taken by the UK government.
A member of the Punjab cabinet told the PML-N leadership that Fazal karim was also in talks with leaders of the Sunni sect in other countries in order to build pressure on the Punjab government, so that the provincial government could ask the law minister to resign.
He quoted Allama Maulana Muhammad Talib, president of Sunni Council Europe and UK, who called the Punjab cabinet member to inquire about the actual situation. The minister said Allama Talib told him that Fazal Karim wanted to have a resolution passed against the Punjab government and Rana Sanaullah and had sent a copy of the resolution to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
After getting to know of the developments, the PML-N leadership has decided not to take any action against Rana Sanaullah and take strict action against Fazal Karim.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk