Are wives and children of politicians fair game for opponents?

Dirty, mean and low Rana Sanaullah, the PMLN law minister in the Punjab, has stooped to conquer. He stood on the steps of the Punjab Assembly two days ago and brandished two pictures before the media. One showed a son of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer on a beach with two “girl” friends. The other showed Mr Taseer at a dinner table with family and friends at some private function, a bottle of Whisky on the table (which is “doctored” into the picture, according to PPP spokesmen). Mr Sanaullah has accused Mr Taseer of turning the Governor’s House into a “den of sin”. Earlier, anonymous e-mailers had sent pictures culled from Facebook albums to all and sundry showing the 16-year-old daughter and 19-year-old son of Mr Taseer with school friends at family and class get-togethers. One rag in Islamabad has actually printed these pictures.

This is a most despicable smear campaign against Mr Taseer and his family. It undermines everything that our family-oriented culture holds dear and sacred, the privacy and sanctity of its “chardevari”. It is remarkable that the conservative Muslim League- Nawaz should have trampled on its own turf. But it is not surprising. The Muslim League’s dirty tricks department is as old as the party itself. We recall how it smeared Benazir Bhutto and even Mrs Nusrat Bhutto in the 1988 elections by spraying the province with “computer-doctored” pictures of the two ladies in ostensibly “compromising” situations.

Are wives and children of politicians fair game for opponents?