LAHORE, March 10: A minority MPA of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) resigned on Sunday in protest at, what he says, negligence and failure of the local administration and Punjab government in protecting properties of minority communities.

In a letter addressed to the Punjab Assembly speaker, Mr Rafique said he was submitting his resignation as member of the house on reserved seat in protest against the Badami Bagh incident which took place due to sheer “negligence and failure of the local administration and Punjab government to protect and save lives and properties of minority communities, particularly Christians”.

He said the incident was a sign of insecurity for the Christian community in the province and alleged that government functionaries were involved in the tragedy.

He said they had witnessed a lot of attacks on Christian villages, churches and colonies during the Shahbaz government and alleged PML-N workers were the root cause of all these incidents (occurred) to forcefully overtake properties of Christian communities.

He demanded that the chief justice take suo motu notice of the incident. The Supreme Court will take up the issue on Monday (today).

Rafique demanded a case against 5,000 culprits involved in the attack and a high-level judicial commission to probe all such incidents in the province.