World | Pakistan
Musharraf ally hit with shoe
An ally of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has been hit with a shoe in a provincial assembly dominated by supporters of slain ex-leader Benazir Bhutto.
- Agencies
- Published: 14:21 April 7, 2008
Karachi: Supporters of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) manhandled former chief minister Arbab Ghullam Rahim inside the Sindh Assembly for the second time in three days, forcing his old ally - the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) - to boycott the session in protest.
Rahim, who was prevented from taking oath on Saturday along with other Sindh Assembly members, was again attacked by the PPP supporters when he arrived at the assembly building through the back door on Monday. The PPP supporters, including women, not only shoved and pushed him, but also threw their shoes at his face. However, Rahim managed to get inside the assembly hall and took oath of his office as its member from the out-going Speaker Muzaffar Hussain Shah.
At that moment, the PPP supporters again attacked him, forcing him to leave the Assembly. "This was all planned," a visibly agitated Rahim told reporters later. "I was made the target at the behest of senior PPP leaders, who have no regard for the sanctity of the Assembly nor they care about democracy and democratic norms," he said.
Adverse remarks
The MQM, which is in negotiations with the PPP to form a coalition government, boycotted the assembly session to protest against the unprecedented incident of beating of Rahim - a PPP dissident - who is facing the wrath of PPP supporters because of his adverse remarks against their slain leader Benazir Bhutto.
The MQM's supreme leader Altaf Hussain urged Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Chief Minister-designate Qaim Ali Shah to take serious notice of the ugly incident.
"On one hand, there are talks of national reconciliation, on the other political opponents are being targeted," he said in a statement from London. This is all against the conventions of parliamentary democracy," he said.
The Sindh Assembly session had started after a delay of almost three hours because of the rowdy and unruly behaviour of the PPP supporters who kept on raising slogans both inside the assembly hall and the building. The repeated calls by Speaker Shah and the PPP leaders including Nisar Khoro and Pir Mazhar were ignored.
Later, Nisar Khoro and Shehla Raza, who were elected unopposed to the slots of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Sindh Assembly respectively took the oath of their office. Khoro is a senior PPP leader, while Raza rose to this coveted slot from the ranks of student politics.
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