Hadi's son-in-law and Nik Aziz's protege on warpath

Zaharudin Muhammad, the son in-law of PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, has engaged in a public spat with party's Salor state assemblyperson Husam Musa, a protege of the late PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

Zaharudin in a Facebook posting today accused Husam of trying to bring down the Kelantan government.

"In the name of Allah, I will fight Husam after this to save Kelantan.

"I have had enough looking at Kedah being taken down by Phahrolrazi's group with their slander," he said.

Zaharudin was referring to PAS losing the Kedah government to BN in the 13th general election.

Prior to the fall of the PAS-led Kedah government, the then state PAS deputy commissioner Phahrolrazi Zawawi had criticised the then Kedah menteri besar Azizan Abdul Razak's leadership.

This prompted Azizan's supporters to accuse Phahrolrazi of wanting to topple the menteri besar.

Zaharudin in his Facebook posting today indicated that the same may be happening in Kelantan.

Increasingly critical

Husam had in recent months become increasingly critical of the Kelantan government over its granting of logging permits.

In an immediate response, Husam said on Facebook he had instructed his lawyers to take action against defamatory statements made by Zaharudin.

Husam also issued a challenge to Zaharudin for an intellectual discussion over the real cause of Kedah's fall, as well as PAS' loss of Terengganu and near defeat in Kelantan.

"I await for any quarter to organise a seminar on the loss of Kedah and Terengganu and the near defeat of PAS in Kelantan in 2004. I would be thankful if Zaharudin can also be invited," he said.

Responding to this, Zaharudin accepted the challenge for a face-off with Husam on Nov 21 at Kolej Universiti Islam Zulkifli Muhammad in Kuala Lumpur.

Zaharuddin also told Husam to go ahead and sue him, stressing that his lawyers were ready and truth was on his side.

"This reminds me of (DAP secretary-general) Lim Guan Eng who likes to silence people through lawsuits," he said. -Mkini