MULTAN, Pakistan: The former Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Parliamentarian Shaukat Basra was critically injured in Punjab’s Bahawalnagar District on Monday in an attack which triggered widely condemnation including from the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
The attack took place on the PPP rally at Haroonabad Chowk in Bahawalnagar in which PPP’s former member of Punjab assembly from South Punjab Shaukat Basra and two other persons were injured while Busra’s personal assistant Imtiaz lost his life.
Sources said that activists of PPP’s rival group Pakistan Muslim League-Zia (PML-Z) – headed by son of former dictator Zia-ul-Haq, Ijaz-ul-Haq – carried out the attack on the PPP rally.
Shaukat Basra and two other injured were shifted to a local hospital in Bahawalnagar.
Meanwhile while condemning the attack on Shaukat Basra, the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari desribed described the incident as “open terrorism”.
“PPP leaders cannot be frightened by such cowardly attacks,” Bilawal said in a statement posted by PPP Media Cell.
The PPP Chairman also demanded that those involved in the attack on Shaukat Basra be immediately arrested and punished.
Shocking murderous attack on #PPP @sh_basra ShaukatBasra’s secretary killed while he is in critical condition. Feels like law of the jungle
— SenatorSherryRehman (@sherryrehman) February 6, 2017
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf also condemned the attack on Shaukat Basra and said that the provincial government was responsible for poor law and order situation in Southern Punjab.
The Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that the attack on PPP rally in Bahawalnagar was the incident of local controversy. However, he assured that action would be taken according to the law.
Rana Sanaullah further said that the PPP did not adopt appropriate behavior.
Shaukat Basra, the son of Shaukat Mahmood Basra, was born on March 1, 1966 at Bahawalnagar. He obtained the degree of LL.B. from Karachi University. He was elected as member of the Punjab assembly in general elections of 2008 from PP-287.
Shaukat Basra is known for his stiff political stance against radicalism and terrorism while PML-Z is considered as politico-religious party having connections with radical components in south of Punjab.
