PPP workers paid in addition to people injured in attack on Khairpur rally

It is still unclear who was culpable for the payment to the extra men.

SUKKUR:

Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah visited Khairpur on Friday to distribute cheques to the families of people killed and injured on October 7 when gunmen opened fire at a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) rally. But the figures didn’t add up: cheques worth a total of Rs1.5 million were reportedly distributed among 15 men, whereas only ten were injured in the rally.

Shah visited Sadoro Janwri village, where six people were killed and ten others injured in the incident. A simple ceremony was held in which the chief minister handed over cheques to the families.

An amount of Rs3.30 million was allocated for this purpose. About Rs1.80 million was distributed among the families of the six victims; that is Rs0.3 million to each family. Those killed included journalist Mushtaq Khand, Prof. Salahuddin Rajput and Zafar Ali Janwri.

The remaining Rs1.50 million was supposed to be handed over to the ten injured men, but instead, around 15 people were given cheques of Rs0.1 million each.

Sources privy to the matter told The Express Tribune that the addition five men who were given the money were PPP workers who sustained minor injuries while breaking Civil hospital’s windows in protest against the shooting incident. It is still unclear who was responsible for the mix-up. Khairpur’s deputy commissioner, Mohammad Abbas Baloch, was not available for comment. The chief minister’s secretary, Nazar Mohammad Gaho, said that he had no knowledge of the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2012.