Shocking thrashing of Arbab–President Musharraf Ordered Inquiry

IT was shocking rather humiliating to watch the manhandling of former Chief Minister Sindh Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim by furious and rowdy PPP activists in and outside the Assembly Hall when he came to take oath. This and related incidents on Monday ashamed all the democracy loving people as emotionally charged workers tortured and abused not only Arbab Rahim but female MPAs of MQM too were subjected to discourtesies at the gate of the Provincial Assembly.

These incidents virtually destroyed the political tranquillity in the Province created by the extraordinary efforts made by Co-Chairman of the party Asif Ali Zardari after his visit to the MQM headquarters. It prompted boycott of the proceedings of the House by all the political parties except PPP and the ANP. Of course President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani have condemned the incident and ordered an inquiry but the customary inquiry would in no way be helpful to remove this black spot from our parliamentary history. The former Chief Minister would have suffered more if the security personnel had not whisked him away. Though Asif Zardari is reported to have taken strong exception to the incident and directed that those responsible should be punished yet the damage has been done. It would have been better yet after first day’s happenings in the House, extraordinary precautions would have been taken but the way Jayalas managed to enter the premises even without cards speaks of something fishy. The misbehaviour with the female MPAs cannot be condoned which also forced the MQM to boycott the proceedings and it caused delay in the opening of the session. This has created a bad blood among two main parties of the Province as MQM leader Saleem Shehzad has, in an interview, already stated that his party too can bring thousands of workers to the Provincial Assembly. The happenings in the Sindh Assembly have evoked concern among the democratic forces. We wish that the political workers and leaders should have learnt some lessons from the past mistakes and the new leadership must keep in mind that this sort of incidents serve as FIR and could result in the derailing of the political process.

Editorial: Pakistan Observer