KARACHI, Jan 24: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would observe three-day mourning during which PML-N flags at party offices would be flown at half mast as a token of respect for the slain workers, said Sindh PML-N chief Ghaus Ali Shah while speaking at a press conference at his residence on Thursday.

He condemned the murder of Sindh PML-N joint secretary Mian Taimoor and his father Mian Arbab who had been killed by gunmen in the early hours of Wednesday in the city’s Defence area. He said that the party had lost three dedicated workers in the past 24 hours.

Another party worker, Farhan Mishwani, had been killed in Liaquatabad area on Tuesday.

“It is unfortunate that here we do not have the tradition of stepping down if we fail to deliver,” he lamented. Answering a question, the Sindh PML-N chief said that Punjab Assembly deputy speaker Rana Mashood, who was also present at the press conference, had been sent by PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif to condole with the bereaved family and analyse the political situation in Karachi by himself.

He said that the federal and provincial governments had failed miserably to discharge their basic responsibility of protecting the lives and properties of people living in the country and especially Karachi, adding that until people in the metropolis did not speak out there would be no respite from ongoing target killing.

“If people, especially those whose loved ones have died in acts of terrorism and targeted attacks, do not rise to the occasion, the present government will not do anything to deal with the law-and-order situation especially with only a few weeks left of its tenure,” he said.

Mr Shah said that the PML-N had recorded its peaceful protest on Thursday over the killing of Mian Taimoor and his father by offering funeral prayers in absentia outside the Governor’s House. The party members had also walked out from upper and lower houses of the parliament on Wednesday.

He called upon people to exercise their right to vote with responsibility and selecting candidates by merit since this was the best way to bring changes to a democratic government.

However, he warned that the country would not be able to survive if existing circumstances were allowed to prevail in the country which had already lost its half. He said that the government had allowed the situation to escalate to the extent that leaders of political parties were being targeted.