Self-immolation: PML-N accuse Ayaz Soomro of instigating Shah’s fiery act
PML-N is blaming Soomro for instigating Shah to commit to self-immolation and had promised to pay him Rs200,000.
SUKKUR:
The Larkana-based leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is holding Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro responsible for the death of Syed Nisar Shah, who immolated himself on December 10 and died on Wednesday evening.
PML-N is also blaming Soomro for instigating Shah to commit to self-immolation and had promised to pay him Rs200,000. The party claims Soomro did this to sabotage the PML-N’s rally.
Syed Nisar Shah was protesting against the party’s leadership and had resorted to the act before the press club prior to Nawaz Sharif’s address at a rally. He was first rushed to Chandka Medical College Hospital and was later transferred to Karachi where he succumbed to his injuries.
His funeral prayers were offered on Thursday at the site where he had committed self-immolation. The PML-N workers carrying his body staged a sit-in while shouting slogans against the party leadership. No party leader except member provincial working committee, Hameer Unnar, attended the funeral. The protesting workers also criticised PML-N leader Syed Ghous Ali Shah for his statement disowning Nisar Shah as a party worker. Shah was buried in a local graveyard.
According to sources close to the bereaved family, Nisar Shah was a resident of Multan and had moved to Larkana around 30 years ago, where he used to work as a motor mechanic. He was an active worker of the PML-N and also remained chief of the party’s labour wing in Larkana for about 10 years. In 2002, he was elected vice president and served at this post for about five years. He was reportedly expelled from the party for indiscipline in 2007.
These sources said that Nisar Shah tried to clear his position with the party leadership, but nobody listened to his pleas. He finally decided on the extreme measure, scheduled for the day Nawaz Sharif would be in Larkana.
His son Hassan Shah told The Express Tribune that no one from PML-N has contacted the family as yet. When asked if his father was a worker of PML-N, Hassan said we have photographs and videos to prove that our father was an old worker of the party. He said that his father’s wages were the sole source of income for the family.
There are two groups in PML-N in Larkana. One is headed by Baboo Sarfaraz Jatoi and the other is represented by Hameer Unnar. Hameer Unnar and other like-minded local leaders attended the funeral, but nobody from the Baboo Sarfaraz group turned up there-though the Pakistan Peoples Party had expressed solidarity with Nisar Shah. Law Minister Ayaz Soomro, who was in Larkana on December 10, had visited Shah at Chandka hospital and assured him that the government would pay for his medical treatment, a promise that never materialised.
The president of the PML-N Larkana chapter, Advocate Baboo Sarfaraz Jatoi, told The Express Tribune that Nisar Shah expelled from the PML-N in 2003 and had nothing to do with the party. He also blamed Soomro, and said the law minister had offered Nisar Shah’s son a job in exchange for the act of self-immolation. Jatoi claimed that Soomro had assured Shah that his men would rush to save him as soon as he would set himself on fire, but nobody came to his rescue.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2011.
The Larkana-based leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is holding Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro responsible for the death of Syed Nisar Shah, who immolated himself on December 10 and died on Wednesday evening.
PML-N is also blaming Soomro for instigating Shah to commit to self-immolation and had promised to pay him Rs200,000. The party claims Soomro did this to sabotage the PML-N’s rally.
Syed Nisar Shah was protesting against the party’s leadership and had resorted to the act before the press club prior to Nawaz Sharif’s address at a rally. He was first rushed to Chandka Medical College Hospital and was later transferred to Karachi where he succumbed to his injuries.
His funeral prayers were offered on Thursday at the site where he had committed self-immolation. The PML-N workers carrying his body staged a sit-in while shouting slogans against the party leadership. No party leader except member provincial working committee, Hameer Unnar, attended the funeral. The protesting workers also criticised PML-N leader Syed Ghous Ali Shah for his statement disowning Nisar Shah as a party worker. Shah was buried in a local graveyard.
According to sources close to the bereaved family, Nisar Shah was a resident of Multan and had moved to Larkana around 30 years ago, where he used to work as a motor mechanic. He was an active worker of the PML-N and also remained chief of the party’s labour wing in Larkana for about 10 years. In 2002, he was elected vice president and served at this post for about five years. He was reportedly expelled from the party for indiscipline in 2007.
These sources said that Nisar Shah tried to clear his position with the party leadership, but nobody listened to his pleas. He finally decided on the extreme measure, scheduled for the day Nawaz Sharif would be in Larkana.
His son Hassan Shah told The Express Tribune that no one from PML-N has contacted the family as yet. When asked if his father was a worker of PML-N, Hassan said we have photographs and videos to prove that our father was an old worker of the party. He said that his father’s wages were the sole source of income for the family.
There are two groups in PML-N in Larkana. One is headed by Baboo Sarfaraz Jatoi and the other is represented by Hameer Unnar. Hameer Unnar and other like-minded local leaders attended the funeral, but nobody from the Baboo Sarfaraz group turned up there-though the Pakistan Peoples Party had expressed solidarity with Nisar Shah. Law Minister Ayaz Soomro, who was in Larkana on December 10, had visited Shah at Chandka hospital and assured him that the government would pay for his medical treatment, a promise that never materialised.
The president of the PML-N Larkana chapter, Advocate Baboo Sarfaraz Jatoi, told The Express Tribune that Nisar Shah expelled from the PML-N in 2003 and had nothing to do with the party. He also blamed Soomro, and said the law minister had offered Nisar Shah’s son a job in exchange for the act of self-immolation. Jatoi claimed that Soomro had assured Shah that his men would rush to save him as soon as he would set himself on fire, but nobody came to his rescue.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2011.