HAFIZABAD, Dec 18: Seven people were injured when a scuffle erupted between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers and supporters of an independent candidate during the speech of PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif at a public meeting in Government High School No 1 ground here on Tuesday.

PML-N candidate Syed Shabir Hussain’s supporters and party workers stopped the supporters of Rana Saleem Shakir, an independent vying for PP-105, from waving banners carrying Shakir’s canvassing, followed by a scuffle in which both the groups hurled furniture items, including chairs, on each other, leaving seven injured. The police intervened and dispersed the miscreants. The injured were taken to District Headquarters Hospital.

Addressing the participants, Shabaz, a former Punjab CM, bemoaned the treatment meted out to the party during Musharraf regime. He said that national exchequer was plundered during Musharraf era and warned that the PML-N’s next government would not spare the plunderers.

He said the Jan 8 elections would prove a referendum against anti-democratic forces and allies of dictatorships, as announced by Nawaz Sharif. — Correspondent