KARACHI: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Sindh Ladies Wing occupied the office of the PML-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) on Karsaz road
on Friday.

Six women of the PML-N Sindh Ladies Wing, including Shehnaz Faizi, Shamem Tanoli, Parveen Butt, led by president Sorath Thebo and general secretary Parveen Bashir reached the PML-N house at C-89, K.D.A. Scheme-I, Karsaz Road at noon. Watchman Shakeel Qureshi and house in-charge Akhtar Pervez resisted their entry. Pervez attacked Naveed Ahmed Tanoli, son of Shamem Tanoli, who received injuries on his head and had to be sent to hospital.

There was no male leader of the PML-N accompanying the women, who occupied all rooms of the house and burnt photos of PML-Q Central President Shujaat Husain, Mushahid Hussain and Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim. They replaced PML-Q flags with PML-N flags.

The other house in-charge, Naimat Khilji, refused to vacate the house.

For two hours, the women and Khilji continuously tried to call their respective colleagues and leaders to no avail.

Bahadurabad SHO Syed Zulqarnain came to inquire about the situation. The PML-N women claimed that they were the original owners of the house, which was occupied by the PML-Q many years ago. They refused to leave, while Khilji also refused to leave. After hearing their protests, Zulqarnain left.

Following this, the women closed the second entrance of the house, locking themselves and Khilji in.

After 20 minutes, former Naib Nazim Karachi and PML-Q Sindh leader Tariq Hassan arrived with three or four workers. Along with Akhtar Pervez, they broke the wooden door and entered the house. The women came out chanting slogans in favour of Nawaz Sharif. Hasan asked Sorath Thebo to leave, but she and her colleagues refused to comply, saying that they were there to reclaim the house, which was being occupied illegally.

Hasan tried to negotiate with the women, but they stuck to their stance. In the presence of the media, it was difficult for the PML-Q house in-charges to take any physical action. Pervez asked the members of the media to leave, saying that he and his colleagues could evict the women in five minutes if the media left. The journalists refused to do so, saying that this was not a personal residence and they are only doing their job, not serving the interests of any particular party.

“The PML-Q has illegally occupied the PML-N office for seven years. We were not allowed to come here, and we are only here to reclaim what is ours. We are the real guardians of this house,” Thebo told Daily Times.

Hassan said that it is very difficult for men to handle these women and called for male PML-N leaders to hold talks with the PML-Q leaders. He said that his party was ready to put up a fight if it was necessary.

Akbar Gujjar, a local leader of the PML-N, came with a large number of workers and his personal bodyguards, armed with sophisticated weapons, and surrounded the house. Gujjar went into a room for negotiations with Hassan, where both remained firm.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Irshad Qureshi came to negotiate with the two, but neither was willing to accept his suggestions.

“This is an act of trespassing on the part of both parties, since neither has any documents proving ownership of the house. If they do not reach an agreement, we will go through the law,” Qureshi told the media, as he left.

After his departure, the PML-N workers tried to evict Hassan and his supporters forcibly. After resisting for nearly 20 minutes, Hassan left the house, saying that he wanted to avoid clashes and was on his way to register an FIR rather than using the same tactics. If the PML-N is talking about democracy, it should act democratically, he added.

Muslim League House was purchased during Muhammad Khan Junejo’s government when he became president of the Muslim League. The house was then occupied by then PML Sindh President Ghous Bux Maher and General Secretary Haleem Siddiqui in 2001 after the formation of the PML-Q.

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