LAHORE:
Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi should have weighed his words before bashing a leader, who is amongst the senior most leaders of the PML-N and that, too, for merely speaking the unpleasant truth about our system, several ruling party leaders opined.
A former federal minister, talking to The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity, said that Hanif Abbasi should be ashamed of himself for unleashing a tirade against Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, a veteran politician of the country and a very senior party leader.
He said that Khawaja Asif is a man of high stature unlike Haneef Abbasi, who is best known only for his controversies, wondering what had Khawaja Asif said that ruffled Haneef’s feathers so exclusively; we know on whose behest he was spewing venom against Asif.
He said that all what Khawaja Asif said would stand the touchstone of reality.
He said the entire episode was in bad taste and Sharif family should have taken an official note of it. He said that pigmies like Haneef Abbasi should not be granted such liberties to mock a leader like Khawaja Asif.
He said that Haneef Abbasi should to get in good books of some in the party, stooped to this level. He said that Haneef Abbasi should identify one factual error with what Khawaja Asif had said.
Two other leaders concurred with the view, asserting that the party should refrain from putting senior leaders who they feel are transgressing boundaries, back in their place by employing such cheap tactics.
He said that if out of whatever reason any such uncomfortable thing is said that too by a senior leader, it should be taken by at party president level.
A leader, who is part of the PM’s team, when asked that many in the party felt that Hanif went out of line to criticize Khawaja Asif, said that this feeling is shared by a lot of leaders in the party.
He said that Hanif Abbasi should have chosen his words wisely, in fact Mr Abbasi shouldn’t have made such harsh remarks. He also clarified that as of now there was no threat to Khawaja Asif’s ministry.
Railways Minister Haneef Abbasi, point-wise responding to Khawaja Asif’s outburst in the National Assembly without naming him, had said that some people were desperate to go viral. He said that a leader cannot absolve himself of the responsibility of the state of affairs of their constituency and that, too, for a long time.
He said that some enjoy bad mouthing the bureaucracy, talking about a dysfunctional local body system, shift our own blame on to the system and even go on to call our own system hybrid.
He said that if such was the case, then one must go and sit on the opposition benches. Abbasi said that instead of shifting blame to the system and one should introspect. For their pound of flesh, he was trying to slaughter the cattle.
Before this outburst, Asif had talked about how construction had taken place on storm drains and flood plans. How rich made it to the Senate, how an absence of the local body system had exacerbated infrastructural problems. And how much political government was compromised.
