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LAHORE, Nov 25: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who returned to the country after eight-year exile on Sunday, had first direct experience of the depth of polarisation in his party and its capacity to mismanage things at the last moment.
He had not climbed down even all stairs of the Saudi plane, which brought him here from Medina, when he found two of his party leaders pouncing at each other, and he had to intervene and control the situation.
According to one of the party leaders, who was part of the reception party inside the airport, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Mujibur Rehman (bother of Ehtesab Bureaus former chief Saifur Rehman) ended up with a fight at the stairs of the Royal plane.
Things got ugly when Mr Rehman, who was in the party list of recipients, managed to get inside the airport and right up to the plane. While climbing down, Mr Rehman had Nawaz Sharif in his embrace, which provoked Saad Rafique.
Mr Saad accused Mr Rehman of betraying the leadership and damaging the party for eight years and now resurfacing only to receive Nawaz Sharif and reclaim a party position.
He violently pushed Rehman out of the way, which first led to exchange of hot words between the two and later to pushing and jostling. Nawaz Sharif interfered and controlled the situation before something worst had happened.
According to party insiders, Sundays ugly scene is symptomatic of deep indiscipline among the partys rank and file, which led to mismanagement of the reception. Enthusiastic workers saved the day for the party, which, otherwise, had it almost botched up, as it had on Sept 10 - Nawaz Sharifs previous bid to end his exile.
The infighting between two groups, one led by Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khosa and the other by Saad Rafique, had made thing worst for the party as late as Saturday night. The infighting went on in a party which was organising a historic reception for their leader on almost a 36-hour notice. The cause of their brawl was holding charge of the Sunday reception.
According to the insiders, things got so worse that Hamza Shahbaz, who otherwise holds no party office, was put in charge of the whole affairs by the Sharif Brothers on Saturday night.
They say that Khosa group is being supported and encouraged by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Raja Ashfaque Sarwar. The other group enjoys the backing of Javed Hashmi, Muhammad Mehdi and Zaeem Qadri. Both are at loggerheads, and may consume substantial time of Nawaz Sharif to put things back on track, if he can.
The mismanagement, or deliberate acts, put even persons like Raja Zafarul Haq and former president Rafiq Tarar in an embarrassing situation after they found their names missing from the list of party leaders who were supposed to receive Nawaz Sharif inside the airport. Even Pervaiz Malik, who had finalised the list, was left out. All of them though managed to go inside the lounge, but only after some bad moments among the party leaders.
Media became another victim of the mismanagement on the scene. The entire leadership of the party disappeared inside the hall, leaving the media, police and highly charged workers jostling for small space outside the arrival lounge. The workers were not ready to vacate the space even after repeated requests. Ultimately, when the media was allotted a space by the leadership, Nawaz Sharif was led exactly to the opposite direction, sending panic-stricken media in a frenzied chase of Mr Sharif. But, by then, electrified workers had surrounded him and police scrambling for security of the former prime minister. Only two private television channels were able to get near to Sharif and take notes of his speech, which, otherwise was totally inaudible.
Had it not been for these channels, the media could have missed former prime ministers talk. No party leader was there to coordinate with the media.
Nawaz lands in a strife-torn party -DAWN - National; November 26, 2007
He had not climbed down even all stairs of the Saudi plane, which brought him here from Medina, when he found two of his party leaders pouncing at each other, and he had to intervene and control the situation.
According to one of the party leaders, who was part of the reception party inside the airport, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Mujibur Rehman (bother of Ehtesab Bureaus former chief Saifur Rehman) ended up with a fight at the stairs of the Royal plane.
Things got ugly when Mr Rehman, who was in the party list of recipients, managed to get inside the airport and right up to the plane. While climbing down, Mr Rehman had Nawaz Sharif in his embrace, which provoked Saad Rafique.
Mr Saad accused Mr Rehman of betraying the leadership and damaging the party for eight years and now resurfacing only to receive Nawaz Sharif and reclaim a party position.
He violently pushed Rehman out of the way, which first led to exchange of hot words between the two and later to pushing and jostling. Nawaz Sharif interfered and controlled the situation before something worst had happened.
According to party insiders, Sundays ugly scene is symptomatic of deep indiscipline among the partys rank and file, which led to mismanagement of the reception. Enthusiastic workers saved the day for the party, which, otherwise, had it almost botched up, as it had on Sept 10 - Nawaz Sharifs previous bid to end his exile.
The infighting between two groups, one led by Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khosa and the other by Saad Rafique, had made thing worst for the party as late as Saturday night. The infighting went on in a party which was organising a historic reception for their leader on almost a 36-hour notice. The cause of their brawl was holding charge of the Sunday reception.
According to the insiders, things got so worse that Hamza Shahbaz, who otherwise holds no party office, was put in charge of the whole affairs by the Sharif Brothers on Saturday night.
They say that Khosa group is being supported and encouraged by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Raja Ashfaque Sarwar. The other group enjoys the backing of Javed Hashmi, Muhammad Mehdi and Zaeem Qadri. Both are at loggerheads, and may consume substantial time of Nawaz Sharif to put things back on track, if he can.
The mismanagement, or deliberate acts, put even persons like Raja Zafarul Haq and former president Rafiq Tarar in an embarrassing situation after they found their names missing from the list of party leaders who were supposed to receive Nawaz Sharif inside the airport. Even Pervaiz Malik, who had finalised the list, was left out. All of them though managed to go inside the lounge, but only after some bad moments among the party leaders.
Media became another victim of the mismanagement on the scene. The entire leadership of the party disappeared inside the hall, leaving the media, police and highly charged workers jostling for small space outside the arrival lounge. The workers were not ready to vacate the space even after repeated requests. Ultimately, when the media was allotted a space by the leadership, Nawaz Sharif was led exactly to the opposite direction, sending panic-stricken media in a frenzied chase of Mr Sharif. But, by then, electrified workers had surrounded him and police scrambling for security of the former prime minister. Only two private television channels were able to get near to Sharif and take notes of his speech, which, otherwise was totally inaudible.
Had it not been for these channels, the media could have missed former prime ministers talk. No party leader was there to coordinate with the media.
Nawaz lands in a strife-torn party -DAWN - National; November 26, 2007
