On a recent talk show (on ARY hosted by Abbasi), an ANP politician lost his cool, when a well respected journalist of repute passed a very legitimate comment on Afsandyar Wali. What Absar Alam stated was that ANP while enjoying the perks of power, wants to play the role of an opposition, thereby waiving their responsibility of being a coalition partner of this government at federal level, KP and Sindh. The issue under discussion was brutal killings in Karachi. Absar just stated that when Afsandyar faced a suicidal attack, he sought refuge in presidency. At this the ANP leader (Haji Adeel) started shouting at Absar Alam and made unsubstantiated and uncalled for remarks upon his professional ethics. The issue is that political leaders, be they Zardari Sahib, Nawaz Sharif, Altaf, Shujaat, Fazal ur Rehman etc have voluntarily entered politics and therefore they are open to criticism. This tendency to form cult images of political leaders has led to intolerance, which is exhibited by harassment and killing of political opponents. Violence in politics is a direct corollary of this political intolerance. Politicians are answerable to the public for all their acts and assets acquired. If they desire privacy and have no tolerance to criticism, than they must leave political office. When individuals accept political offices, they offer themselves to public scrutiny. If they enjoy perks of political office, they must also accept, the right of public and media to subject them to legitimate political scrutiny and criticism. MALIK TARIQ, Lahore, August 25.