Babar Awan playing a dangerous game

While the Punjab-based PML-N leadership is trying to shake off its 'friendly opposition' label, Babar Awan, Federal Law Minister and a close confidante of President Asif Ali Zardari, has started to lay the blame for the PPP government's troubles, vis-à-vis the judiciary, at the door of the 'Takht Lahore.'
Talking about a writ petition filed in the Lahore High Court against the NAB chief's appointment (the Nawaz League has vowed to oppose the appointment since the government ignored its opinion and thereby the required 'consultation' with the Opposition) Awan said that it would give the message to the smaller provinces that whatever they do, could be dragged into litigation by Lahore.
He also posed the mischievous question: why are all high-profile cases (against the PPP government) being filed in the LHC? Again, the implication is that Punjab's ruling elite is out to get a Sindh-based leader. There are a number of reasons why people in Lahore are challenging the PPP government's alleged wrongdoings. One obvious explanation is that Lahore is home to the leadership of the other major party, Nawaz League, a party whose political reach and weight is confined to Punjab.
Once, it did have a presence in Hazara, but that too stands wiped out after its decision to support the renaming of NWFP as KP. Although, historically, Lahore has been the centre of almost all major political movements, including the one successfully led by the PPP founder chairman, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, against the dictatorial rule of General Ayub Khan.
Benazir Bhutto, too, landed in Lahore when she returned to launch herself into politics in the 80s. The most recent example is that of the protracted and victorious lawyers-civil society campaign for the restoration of the Chief Justice along with 60 of his colleagues, and for the independence of the judiciary.
The government has not won itself public admiration by using every possible trick to defy the courts, and protect influential individuals (the President used his special powers under Article 45 of the Constitution to grant pardon to his cronies, overturning LHC decisions), and by refusing to comply with the apex court's orders in another high-profile case.
The Law Minister's fulminations against the 'Takht Lahore' are a piece of the same policy of defiance. But he is playing a dangerous game in trying to turn purely legal battles into a Punjab vs. Sindh confrontation. Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah certainly had a point when he accused of Awan promoting hatred between the provinces, using the term "Takht Lahore" and that he has become a "security risk" for the federation.
In fact, Awan and Sanaullah are not helping the cause of their respective parties, as PPP is the only countrywide party, and for long, has had a strong support base in Lahore, while the PML-N though confined to the most populous unit of the federation, is still considered as a possible alternative, if it combines with other regional parties. Surely, it has someone in other provinces of the federation who can take up their cause in the courts.
Despite the passage of the 18th Amendment that gives greater autonomy to the provinces, and a consensus National Finance Commission Award, a lack of inter-provincial harmony continues to be a major issue. Worryingly, Balochistan is in the grip of a bloody insurgency, and anti-federation sentiments are gaining strength there.
The other two provinces remain suspicious of Punjab, the largest in population and, relatively, a prosperous province. The periodic raking up of the controversial Kalabagh dam issue by successive governments in Punjab. A recent example being the passage of a pro-Kalabagh dam resolution by the Punjab Assembly elicits a vehemently angry response from Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The last thing this country needs is more bitterness between provinces. Awan and others must refrain from sowing the seeds of further inter-provincial discord. They should fight their battles in the legal-political arena where they belong, not at the expense of the Federation.