May 3, 2005	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23, 1426

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OKARA, May 2: PPP Patriots differences with the ruling PML and the Chaudhrys surfaced again on Monday when Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal slapped the district police officer and accused the chief minister of disrupting ‘his show’ here on Monday.

In the presence of the prime minister, Rao Iqbal used abusive language before

slapping DPO Syed Zafar Abbas Bokhari. Governor Khalid Maqbool intervened and stopped the minister from further aggression. The police officer was apparently stunned what wrong he had done.

Visibly annoyed, Chief Minister kept silent and moved to the stage. On his turn to address the meeting, he spoke just for a minute.

In his statement later, Rao Iqbal said the Punjab chief minister was allergic to PPP-P and had tried to flop its show in Okara.

He claimed that police had created hurdles in the free movement of public. “President Musharraf is of the view that the PPP is a moderate party and this is the reason that the chief minister has tried to flop my show,” he claimed.

The defence minister said that on his invitation the Turkish ambassador reached Okara but was stopped at the railway level crossing. Similarly, he said, state minister Aneesa Zeb Tahir Kheli, MNA Sardar Tufail and Kasur District Nazim Rana Imtiaz were also stopped.

Sources said Rao was annoyed at the change of route leading to Jinnah Park. The DPO was quoted by police as saying that the route had been selected by the prime minister’s security staff.

A respected officer, Bokahri was dejected at the conduct of the minister who, in a bid to settle ‘political scores’, made him a scapegoat.

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