LAHORE: Reacting strongly to Rail­ways Minister Sheikh Rashid’s “threat” to party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, several leaders of the Pakistan Peoples Party on Sunday announced that the party would not ignore the minister’s statement and might take legal action against him.

“From delivering hate speeches in the past, the federal minister is now hurling a direct death threat at Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. Though threats of extremist right wingers to Mr Bhutto are not new, for a cabinet member giving an open death threat to someone whose entire family was killed, is disgusting,” Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari, daughter of PPP co-chairperson and former president Asif Ali Zardari, said in a tweet on Sunday.

In response to Mr Bhutto-Zardari’s press conference in the Sindh Assembly building, Mr Rashid tweeted: “Bilawal should play carefully in politics otherwise he may be eliminated.”

Railways minister tweeted: ‘Bilawal should play carefully in politics otherwise he may be eliminated’

PPP’s central information secretary Dr Nafisa Shah said: “The party would not ignore Sheikh Rashid’s threat to Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. Mr Rashid has been a facilitator of terrorist organisations in the past and that is why his statements cannot be ignored as mere mockery. Our struggle and patience should not be seen as a weakness.”

She said the PPP workers would protect their chairman. Referring to “anti-PPP steps” taken by the government, she said that on the one hand a reference filed by Mr Zardari about judicial murder of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was still pending before a court of law, and on the other, killers of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had been released.

“The concocted case of money laundering against Mr Zardari has been transferred to Rawalpindi and now a threat by Mr Rashid to Mr Bhutto-Zardari is all indicating that there are links between all of them. Sheikh Rashid is a spokesman for several quarters, including terrorists, and that is why the PPP is taking his threat very seriously. The nation will not tolerate such criminal acts,” Dr Shah said.

PPP’s Punjab secretary general Chaudhry Manzoor said the party would consult legal team to file a case against Mr Rashid for hurling the “death threat” at Mr Bhutto-Zardari.

“We are taking Mr Rashid’s threat very seriously because this kind of threat was earlier given to Benazir Bhutto by military dictator Gen Musharraf,” he said, adding that Mr Rashid’s threat could not be ignored because he had “links with banned organisations”.

“If Prime Minister Imran Khan is not supportive of this threat then he should immediately sack this toxic-tongued member of his cabinet,” he said and added that if no action was taken against Mr Rashid it would be assumed that the government was backing him.

Chaudhry Manzoor said the PPP leadership would be requested to call a central executive committee meeting on this issue.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2019