LARKANA/NAWABSHAH: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari condemned the Quetta carnage and Larkana blast which took place earlier in the day.

He was speaking to media outside the casualty department of the Chandka Medical College Hospital in Larkana after casting his vote at the Primary School-III near fish market in Naudero.

He said that it was the responsibility of the caretaker dispensation to provide security to voters and political workers. The culprits must be brought to book, he said.

The incident was a conspiracy to sow fear but people with conviction and commitment had defeated the motive, he said.

Bilawal’s aunts, Faryal Talpur and Sanam Bhutto, also cast their votes at Primary School-III polling station. Asif Ali Zardari, the former head of state, his daughters, Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari and Aseefa Bhutto- Zardari, and his elder sister, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, cast their votes at the polling station set up in the Government Boys Primary School, LBOD Colony, Nawabshah. They avoided talking to the media during their visit. Asif Zardari, who is contesting on NA-213, visited a few polling stations within his constituency and witnessed the polling process.

Sindh United Party (SUP) candidate for NA-214 and PS-40 Syed Zain Shah also visited some polling stations of his constituency. He, speaking to the media, alleged that his rival candidate Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah’s wife was seen stamping bogus ballots at the Mehrabpur polling station. The evidence, CCTV footage, was sent to the ECP for action, he claimed.

Media personnel protest

Bilawal’s security guards blocked the entry of media personnel into the hospital’s casualty section, where he was to inquire about the health of those injured in the Larkana cracker blast.

Irked by the attitude, the media people protested before him.

Bilawal told them that “under the situation obtaining here we should cooperate with each other” and left the hospital.

Strong security measures were put in place as the army, Rangers and police personnel kept patrolling the city and its suburbs to maintain law and order during the polling process.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2018