PTI demands commission to probe Khanzada’s killing

LAHORE:

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf demanded on Monday that the government form a commission to probe Sunday’s suicide attack in Attock in which Home Minister Home Minister Shuja Khanzada and 16 other people had died.

Addressing a press conference, PTI provincial deputy organiser Omer Sarfraz Cheema also expressed concern over the alleged links between banned outfits and some provincial ministers.

Cheema said the government must bring to book those responsible for the attack. He praised the slain minister as a patriotic leader. Khanzada was among the founding members of the PTI, he said. “His killing reflects lack of good governance and ineffectiveness of the security measures.”

Read: K-P Assembly condemns attack on Shuja Khanzada

“Instead of securing only themselves, government leaders should take steps to provide protection to the entire population of the province,” Cheema said. He said Raiwind, where the Sharifs lived, had been given complete protection. The rest of the province has been left at the mercy of terrorists, he said. “On one hand people like Khanzada have sacrificed their lives in the line of duty; on the other, some people in the cabinet have links with banned outfits,” the PTI leader said.

Cheema said the governor Salmaan Taseer, too, had pointed towards such elements but his concerns were never addressed. He said it was vital for the government to purge its ranks of such people.

Asked if he believed that some people within the government were behind Khanzada’s killing, Cheema said several elements could be involved. “This is why we have demanded an immediate inquiry into the attack,” he said.

Cheema accused Law Minister Rana Sanaullah of being involved in the killing of PTI worker Haq Nawaz in Faisalabad last year. He said Sanaullah was also the central character in the Model Town riots last year. Former Faisalabad mayor Sher Ali had said on Friday Sanaullah was accused of abetment in the killing of 20 people. Cheema demanded that the government order an inquiry into the claims. “Their [the PML-N] own leaders are now breaking the silence,” he said.

Read: ‘Highest civil award will be sought for Khanzada’

He said the PTI and the Pakistan Peoples Party, too, had expressed similar concerns but the government had never listened to them. He asked the government to suspend Sanaullah from the cabinet until an inquiry commission gave its findings after probing all the claims against him.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2015.