GUJRAT: PPP-backed chairman of Lalamusa Municipal Committee, Nadeem Asghar Kaira, has condemned what he called the callous attitude of Sharif family towards the aggrieved family of a 12-year-old boy who was killed by a protocol vehicle of Nawaz Sharif’’s rally on Aug 11.

Mr Sharif has so far postponed two scheduled visits to the family in the last one week.

Talking to Dawn, Kaira said on one hand the Punjab government had failed to arrest the driver who crushed Hamid Chughtai and recover the vehicle, and on the other Nawaz was making a mockery of the aggrieved family by cancelling scheduled tours to Lalamusa twice, which was “irresponsible”.

He added that neither legal action was taken against the driver nor progress made in the case by police, and the culprits were adding insult to the injury by repeatedly cancelling their visits.

Condemning the attitude, he vowed to stage a protest if the Sharifs visited Lalamusa.

Kaira claimed that councillors belonging to PPP and PTI would join his protest against the Punjab government for consistently ignoring Lalamusa in provision of funds to resolve issues of civic amenities.

“The Punjab government has not given funds for the purchase of machinery and equipment required for cleanliness in Lalamusa city where streets are filled with heaps of garbage as well as submerged in sewage,” Kaira said, adding that the people of Lalamusa would demand their rights from the chief minister either through a demonstration or dialogue with him. The PML-N had got votes in the 2013 general polls from this city.

Earlier on Aug 19, the scheduled visit of Sharif brothers was ‘postponed’ due to the alleged differences among PML-N lawmakers from Kharian tehsil whereas the second visit planned for Aug 24 was cancelled owing to undisclosed reasons.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2017