HYDERABAD: A Pakis­tan Peoples Party (PPP) activist attempted to commit suicide by immolating himself on Friday during the ongoing protest by many of his party colleagues, belonging to the PS-49 constituency, outside the local press club.

Mohammed Aziz Pathan sprinkled petrol over his body and tried to immolate himself but other PPP activists present around saved him.

A large group of agitating PPP workers from the constituency have been observing a token hunger strike at the venue against party leaders of their area Ghulam Rasool Kalhoro and general secretary Shabbir Sangrasi for about a week. They accuse the two leaders of selling away jobs and lands instead of obliging genuine party workers on a merit basis.

On Friday, the chief minister’s political assistant in Hyderabad Abdul Jabbar Khan and PPP senior vice president Amanullah Siyal visited the protesters to persuade them to call off their protest. However, as soon as they arrived at the protest camp, Mr Pathan registered his strong protest over alleged ‘rampant corruption’ on the part of the two local leaders and unfair treatment being meted out to him and many other party activists belonging to the constituency. He attempted to commit suicide but people around prevented him from taking the extreme action.

Later, Mr Siyal and Mr Khan advised the protesters to lodge all their complaints with the party’s provincial chief, who would definitely take action against anyone found involved in corruption or unfair treatment.

!()[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2devn6ppp-worker-attempts-suicidenews]

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2014