PML-N lawmaker among eight booked for PPP leader's murder

Manawan police register case under murder, terrorism charges; Bilawal blames ruling party

LAHORE: PML-N lawmaker Sohail Shaukat Butt and seven other suspects have been booked for the brazen murder of PPP leader Babar Sohail Butt inside his house on Sunday night.

A case under murder and terrorism charges was registered with Manawan police on Monday on the complaint of the deceased’s brother Qaiser Sohail Butt.

PPP leader shot dead in Lahore

In the police application, Qaiser stated his brother and Waheed Butt were sitting in the drawing room of their house and devising a plan to welcome of PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in Lahore.

Atif Butt and Irfan Jutt and two more men barged into the room carrying weapons and opened indiscriminate firing. The victim suffered gunshots to the face, chest and other parts of the body. Inamul Haq Butt and Waheed Butt saved their lives by hiding in other rooms. The suspects fled from the backdoor of the house as seen by Muhammad Younis from the rooftop, the complainant said.

Babar’s brothers shifted him to the Services Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

Qaiser claimed his family had a long-running feud with the suspects, who had also murdered their father Muhammad Salim Butt. Babar had survived four assassination attempts and cases were registered with different police stations.

The complainant alleged the suspects had been threatening the family with dire consequences to force them into giving up the murder case of their father. He added the suspects killed Babar with the help of MNA Sohail, Shafqat Ali Butt and Manawan SHO Nasrullah Chatha.

Police have registered a case (FIR 157/17) against the suspects named under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, Sections 302 (murder), 109 (abetment), 148 and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Pakistan Penal Code. DIG Operations Dr Haider Ashraf has suspended SHO Nasarullah.



On Monday, Criminal Investigation Agency SP Tariq Mastoi along with his team visited the crime scene and collected forensic evidence and recorded statements of eyewitnesses.

The victim’s autopsy stated the body had 24 bullet injuries. Eight bullets exited through the body, as many grazed it while two slugs were removed by doctors.

Babar was likely to become a senior office-bearer within the PPP in the new organisational structure to be announced by Bilawal on his latest visit to Lahore. The victim had also served jail time for murder of Noora Kashmiri, whom he believed had killed his father.

Babar contested for a Punjab Assembly seat from PP-157 constituency in the 2013 elections on a PPP ticket and served as an active member of the People’s Youth Organisation (PYO) Lahore. He was the brother of Israr Butt, who is only the Union Council chairman of the PPP in Lahore. The deceased was supposed to give an interview to the PPP chairman for the Lahore organisation.

Bilawal blames PML-N

The PPP chairman strongly condemned the brutal murder of the party stalwart and accused the ruling party of letting out terror groups against the PPP workers across Punjab.

Bilawal said that PPP workers were being targeted under a plan and the latest target killing of Babar after the previous attack on Shaukat Basra had exposed the government’s plan.

He warned that patience and tolerance of the PPP workers should not be tested as the Sharif government could not survive if the jiyalas resorted to protests.

Bilawal also expressed sympathy with the bereaved family. He said the PPP leadership would not forget Babar for his commitment, loyalty and sacrifices for the party and its democratic struggle.

The PPP chairman’s younger sister Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari also called for an investigation into the murder in her Twitter message. “They are still trying to silence us. Hope an investigation is conducted, anyone involved should be prosecuted,” she wrote.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2017.