RAWALPINDI, Feb 1: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Sunday condemned the killing of its Lahore chapter vice-president Malik Imtiaz Shahid and asked the Punjab government to probe the incident and arrest the culprits as soon as possible.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, PPP leaders, including Rawalpindi chapter president Malik Amir Fida Paracha and senior leader Agha Riazul Islam, said the killing of Mr Shahid in broad daylight had sent a wave of fear among the party ranks.

“What we need and demand is the arrest of killers at the earliest and to expose the perpetrators of the murder. He (Mr Shahid) had no personal enmity with anybody and was a devoted party worker,” Mr Paracha said.

The PPP leader was gunned down in Lahore on Saturday by unknown motorcyclists when he was on his way to his residence in Shadipura. The killing caused anger among the party at a time when the Punjab government seems to be at war with the federal government.

Mr Paracha said the murder of a party leader had raised eyebrows in the PPP, saying that workers were demanding a thorough probe into the murder and asked the Punjab government to play its due role in arresting the culprits.—Our Reporter