RAWALPINDI (Babar Malik): Awami Muslim League’s chief Shiekh Rasheed Ahmed escaped an apparent attempt on his life here Monday in which four people were killed and three others wounded, reported ARY NEWS.
He received some injuries in his foot and is being treated in District Headquarter Hospital.
Rasheed, who is contesting the bye-polls at NA-55 scheduled to be held on February 24, was visiting one of his election offices in Khayaban-e-Sir Syed in the downtown city when unknown armed men targeted him, his personal assistant Javed Qureshi told newsmen via phone.
“He was returning after visiting the office when unidentified gunmen from front side opened indiscriminate firing with Kalashnikovs,” Javed told the media. “Four people, including Rasheed’s bodyguards and workers, who were escorting him out were shot dead while he fell down on the floor.”
Qureshi said Rasheed has been rushed to hospital as he has received some injuries in his foot. Later, the DHQ doctors clarified that it was not a bullet wound, adding that he was in stable condition.
Markets were shut in the area while hundreds of people gathered outside the hospital and at the incident site – one of Rasheed’s strongholds in the city - and chanted slogans against the provincial government and the PML-N.
The infuriated workers also blocked roads with burning tyres.
Heavy contingents of police arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area. The road has been blocked for all kinds of traffic while police attempted to diffuse the tension and disperse the protesters.
Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardrari has ordered an immediate inquiry into the incident. Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif has also ordered commissioner and RPO Rawalpindi to submit report in this regard.
Former Information Minister Sheikh Rasheed was a member of PML-Q before forming his own political party in 2008.
PML-N’s Shakil Awan and some independent candidates are contesting against Rasheed in NA-55 where the polling is due on February 26.
A neck and neck competition is expected between PML-N and Sheikh Rashid as various political parties have fielded their candidates for the seat and PML-N is aggressively pursuing its election campaign in the city.
A bitter rival of Rasheed in the city MNA Mohammed Hanif Abbasi has been appointed as election in-charge by PML-N.
NA-55 was the seat of PML-N which fell vacant following the resignation of its MNA Haji Pervez Khan following his induction in an examination scandal.
The city roads have been flooded with massive display of campaign posters and banners which indicate the intensity of election fever prevailing in the populous Rawalpindi city.
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