Escapes Nawaz Sharif
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif escaped a violent attempt on his life in Lahore Sunday. The bridge on way to Sharif's home village in Punjab was devastated by a timing device killing four persons. Sharif and his family were to pass through this bridge in the morning. Police suspect an assassination bid by the belligerent Muttahida Quomi Movement (MQM), a political party mainly consisting of refugees from India and based in the former capital Karachi.
Pakistan has been passing through a bizarre political situation since Sharif's Muslim League swept through the last general elections. The landslide victory at the polls that shattered the main opposition of Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party has emboldened Nawaz Sharif to assume sweeping powers in the name of containing violence and corruption and speedy disposal of justice. The introduction of military courts in Sindh province to deal with violence and rioting, the ever growing Shia-Sunni armed clashes and the proposed introduction of Shariah laws have all indicated concentration of powers in the hands of Prime Minister. In a country like Pakistan which is struggling to have a stable political order even 50 years after independence, the rulers have to be careful, sagacious and prudent. Pursuit of Sharif's recent political agenda may have earned him more enemies than friends and the blast must have come as a timely warning.
We urge all concerned in Pakistan to show restraint and resort to political means in confronting an opponent rather than trying to force matters through sinister methods of violence.
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