ISLAMABAD, Feb 11: Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto has condemned the attack on her sister-in-law Azra Fazal Pacheho during polling in by-election in Jamshoro on Saturday and asked the government to arrest the provincial ministers and their guards involved in the incident.

Azra Pacheho, a PPP MNA and sister of Asif Ali Zardari, escaped what has been described as an assassination bid and it was said that provincial minister Altaf Unar accompanied by his armed body guards allegedly attacked the jeep she was travelling in.

The volley of gunshots fired from a machine gun shattered the front and rear windscreens of the vehicle but Ms Pacheho escaped miraculously.

“The attack on a woman leader is not only a shameful act but also a worst manifestation of cowardice and is condemned in the strongest terms,” Ms Bhutto said in a statement. She said as elections drew nearer the regime had been gripped by fear and panic, and had resorted to violence.

The PPP has already filed a criminal complaint with area magistrate naming provincial ministers, including Altaf Unar, and their body guards for attacking the party leader.

Just two days before six PPP activists were gunned down by rivals in Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s constituency in Attock.

The PPP chairperson said that such assassination bids would not deter the party from pursuing its democratic agenda aimed at restoration of democracy and ensuring sovereignty of the parliament.