PPP leaders demand arrests in Shaukat Basra attack case

Sindh Minister for Industries and Commerce Manzoor Hussain Wassan on Thursday demanded of the Punjab Government to take action against those who attacked Pakistan Peoples Party leader Shaukat Basra’s convoy in Bahawalnagar a few days back.

Speaking to media personnel after visiting Basra at the Aga Khan Hospital, Wassan termed the Punjab government’s inaction over the case lamentable. He warned that if the PPP was stopped from carrying out political activities in Punjab, the same would be the case for the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) in Sindh.

“We will not allow the Nawaz league to even enter Sindh,” said the minister. Wassan’s comments came a day after PPP Sindh President Nisar Khuhro termed the attack on Basra ‘an open act of aggression’ and lambasted PML-N’s Punjab leaders over their inaction to arrest the culprits.

Speaking to the media after visiting Basra at AKUH, Khuhro said the attack was carried out on behest of PPP’s political opponents who were allies of the ruling PML-N. He criticised the Punjab govt for using aggressive tactics against its political opponents. “But the PPP would not bow down to such undemocratic practices, rather would further be strengthened in Punjab.”

The leader of parliamentary affairs, also PPP’s provincial president further alleged that the ruling political party in Punjab had ties with banned militant outfits.  Basra and two others were injured while his secretary died after they were fired at during a protest in Haroonabad, district Bahawalnagar on February 6.

Speaking of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, he said the politician had no interest in Sindh’s affairs. He suggested Khan to first think about his own deeds before criticising others.

He said the PTI chief should first save his own political party, adding, that his days in politics were numbered. “He would soon be expelled from politics like a Tsunami,” Khuhro said. The leader of parliamentary affairs in assembly while further answering questions, said the former Sindh governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan had left the country at his own will, whether he decides to join the PPP or any other party would only be ascertained on his return.

As far as former president General Pervez Musharraf and his party (All Pakistan Muslim League) were concerned, Khuhro said the former military ruler had been meeting his former allies while abroad; however, no alliances formed through such meetings would have any effect on the PPP, the senior party official categorically stated.