President in Punjab

Dear Sajjad Ahmad
January 23rd, 2010

A controversy is going on in the media about the absence of Sharif brothers from Punjab at the time of President's visit to Lahore. A general perception is that the CM undertook a tour abroad and prolonged it there till the President was back in Islamabad just to avoid subjecting himself to the protocol warranted of him. This perception got further impetus when Mr. Zardari, ostensibly noticing his absence, vengefully told a PPP crowd that he would visit Punjab every month and hold open kechehries where all ministers would be present and personally answerable to their problems. Such a headlong confrontation between a federating unit chief executive and the symbol of federation is highly undesirable, to say the least.

The question arises did the President visit Punjab on an official tour or went there on his own to hold party meetings in his capacity of being its Co-Chairman. If it was an official tour it must have been planned well in advance and the Punjab government must have been involved in arranging the protocol, security, logistics and administration etc. for the visiting President. In such a case the absence of the Chief executive of the province is highly objectionable. But, if the visit was a private jaunt as is Mr. Zardari's wont to visit Shanghai, Dubai and London then Mr. Shahbaz Sharif cannot be much ! blamed f or being away from the province. In any case it is unfortunate and shouldn't have happened.

Truly

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)