Islamabad: A woman MP belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was shot and injured on Wednesday in Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s central Punjab province.
Tahira Asif, member of the National Assembly, underwent surgery at the Shaikh Zayed Hospital in Lahore. She was in the city to commiserate with Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers over the deaths of their colleagues in an alleged police firing on Tuesday.
The parliamentarian was reportedly out of danger after the surgery.
Opposition lawmakers staged a walkout from the National Assembly in Islamabad in protest at the gun attack on the parliamentarian.
London-based MQM chief Altaf Hussain issued a statement condemning the incident and claimed the attack on the lawmaker was a planned conspiracy while other reports said she was shot during an attempted robbery.
The parliamentarian came under attack in Lahore’s Model Town neighbourhood, where police and PAT workers were involved in violent clashes the previous day near the party’s secretariat.
PAT leader Dr Tahirul Qadri, a prominent Islamic scholar with dual Canadian nationality, alleged the police action was meant to intimidate his workers and supporters as he is due to return to Pakistan on June 23 to lead a movement to uproot the “corrupt system” in the country.”
Reports said the number of PAT workers killed during the clashes had risen from the initial seven to ten as two of the injured had died in hospital. The victims included two women.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who returned from a visit to Tajikistan on Wednesday, said a judicial tribunal has been formed to probe the Lahore incident.
In a statement, Sharif assured that responsibility regarding the incident will be fixed in the light of the report of the tribunal and immediate legal action will be taken.
Deploring the loss of lives in the incident, the prime minister said that Pakistan is currently faced with two challenges. On the one hand the armed forces are fighting against terrorists while on the other “we are striving to put the economy on the right track.”
In such a situation nobody can be and will be allowed to put the country’s peace and security at stake, Sharif said.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday assured his full support to PAT and demanded the resignation of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
At a press conference in Lahore, Khan held the Punjab government responsible for the Lahore incident.
