Two Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) workers were killed and seven others were injured as a clash broke out between PTI and PML-N party workers in Lahore’s Yakki Gate area early Monday. The dead have been identified as Khurram Shehzad and Malik Arif. A minor is among those injured.The PTI filed a First Information Report (FIR) for murder against seven PML-N workers including Chaudhry Zahid, Malik Ditta and Ahmed Butt. For some reason PML-N seems unable to cease providing PTI with justifiable cause to complain. Killing of three of its workers since the announcement of the local body polls is no small matter, after all. Once again an election rally led to a standoff; and once again bullets were fired, which led to yet another killing. PTI has now, expectedly and rightly, gone on the offensive; and it will squeeze political juice from the tragedy by accusing the government and police of corruption, negligence and what not. Instead of trying to turn the incident into fodder for propaganda, the leaders of both parties must first fulfill their responsibility to the wider society i.e. the maintenance of peace. The recent hard-fought by-elections have left emotions raw in Lahore. If they are not pacified after this incident then notions of victimisation and conflict will start pervading the party cadres. Pakistani cities have seen this pattern before. A political rivalry turns violent, leaders use the violence to milk votes, and within a short period of time ‘militant wings’ of political parties are institutionalised. Muttahida Qomi Movement’s (MQM) criminal associations, the Jamiat’s reign in Pakistani educational institutions, “Wajahat Force” and its influence in Gujrat – all are borne out of unchecked political clashes. We have had enough of this. The Punjab, and Pakistan, does not need to see more gang wars, courtesy the PTI and PML-N.The responsibility of the political parties is simple; placate the enraged party members, refrain from spinning the incidents into political gain, and let law enforcement solve the incident like they would solve any other murder case. This does not mean that the clash is swept under the rug. An independent investigation must be undertaken and the perpetrator should be apprehended, and eventually held accountable. Along with political control, a strong and deterrent stance is also needed by law enforcement. The rising trend of political clashes between the PML-N and PTI does present a problem. Both parties – and especially their top leadership – need to reconsider the tone, tenor and language of their political speech. Perhaps the leadership’s inflated machismo is being reflected in dead bodies in the streets.
pk.shafaqna.com
