LAHORE, May 3: The police officer beaten up by Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal in Okara on Monday has been medically examined and he has reportedly shown his injuries to the high-ups.

Legislators and police officials are pressing the chief minister that a case should be registered against the minister, who turned violent when the prime minister and many other important leaders were present at his residence in Okara.

They argue that if a senior federal minister has no regard for the law, the common man cannot be expected to go by it.

However, no decision has so far been taken on how the matter should be handled.

Sources said the Punjab government had nothing to do with the security of the president or the prime minister and it played a role only when it was asked to do so. Therefore, they said, the Punjab police could not go for a baton-charge, as alleged by the hosts.

On the other hand, Rao Sikandar, who is also chairman of his faction of the PPP, has brought the matter into the notice of President Pervez Musharraf. However, it is not clear what role he wants the president to play.

The defence minister’s nephew Rao Yasser, who is also the PPP provincial information secretary, alleged that the Punjab government had got removed the hoardings of the prime minister the party had put up on the route.

The party, he claimed, had spent huge amounts to give a befitting welcome to the prime minister in Okara, but the Punjab government did not let Shaukat Aziz see the arrangements by changing his route.

Rao Yasser said his party could quit power, but not tolerate its workers baton charged. He said if the PML leadership did not like its coalition partner, the PPP, it should better not participate in its functions.

Okara PPP: Okara PPP president and MPA Ashraf Sohna says not a single member of his party had participated in the public meeting addressed by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Okara on Monday.

Talking to reporters in the presence of provincial information secretary Naveed Chaudhry on Tuesday, he said PPP leaders and workers hated Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal for his disloyalty to the party. Thus, he said, there was no question of any PPP worker participating in the public meeting organized by him.

He said the entire party was united under the leadership of Ms Benazir Bhutto.

Mr Sohna criticized the defence minister for slapping a senior police official in the presence of the prime minister. Rao, he said, had turned violent because of the umbrella being provided by the president-in-uniform.

He said the minister had violated the law for which he should be proceeded against.

Naveed Chaudhry said the defence minister should step down immediately if he had the conscience.

He criticized the Punjab chief minister for using public funds for his personal publicity. He said the CM was also deepening division between “Jats” and “non-Jats”.

Iqbal Sialvi, the media adviser, also demanded through a press statement that the defence minister should quit immediately after taking the law into his own hands.