Islamabad: The governor of Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, yesterday publicly accused the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) of being a Taliban sympathiser and supporter of banned religious extremist groups in the province.
Governor Salman Taseer, talking to media in Lahore, lashed out at Punjab chief minister and PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif over a statement the latter made a day earlier.
Shahbaz Sharif, speaking at a seminar in the provincial capital, reportedly said that both Taliban and PML-N had had opposed the former military dictator Pervez Musharraf and his US-dictated policies.
The Taliban, therefore, should not carry out acts of terror in Punjab, the chief minister said, referring to last week's twin suicide bombings that killed nearly sixty people in Lahore.
Governor Taseer said he feared that the Punjab government "wants to spread Talibanisation in the province".
Blame
He had recently written to the chief minister a formal letter blaming the provincial government for maintaining links with outlawed extremist outfits and encouraging their activities.
The governor's charge was contemptuously rejected by the PML-N leadership and the provincial government as part of his vicious propaganda campaign against the party for political motives.
Taseer was appointed by Musharraf and retained after him by the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party leadership, who ignored frequent protests by the PML-N against the partisan and hostile role of the governor.
Despite mutual mistrust and acrimony, PPP remains a junior partner in the Punjab coalition government led by the PML-N.
