LAHORE, March 22: Unidentified gunmen resorted to aerial firing outside the residences of PML-Q leaders Chaudhry Shujaat Husain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Friday noon. They fled the scene in no time.

Armed men came on a car (LXZ 130) and fired five to six shots in the air with a pistol. The motive behind the incident could not be ascertained, according to initial investigations.

Pervaiz Elahi and Chaudhry Shujaat were in Islamabad when the incident took place. No damage or casualty was reported.

The aerial firing sent a wave of shock among the employees and members of the PML-Q leaders’ family, witnesses told the police.

The police claimed to have traced the vehicle used in the crime through its registration number (LXZ 130) after getting record of a footage of the CCTV installed outside the residence of the Chaudhrys on Zahoor Elahi Road.

“We informed the police on the emergency number, but they failed to trace the car,” a PML-Q leader present in the house told Dawn. He said the police guard present outside the house should have followed the car.

Quoting the CCTV footage, Operations DIG Tahir Rai told Dawn one of the armed men opened fire with a pistol while occupying his seat. He said the CCTV could not capture the glimpses of the man who fired shots or his accomplices.

Apparently, the car riders did not target the former deputy prime minister’s residence as they had opened first round of fire at the roundabout a hundred yards away from the house and then repeated the same after reaching close to it.

The DIG said according to the initial information gleaned by the police, the car was leased out by a private bank and further investigation was under way to trace the men who got the vehicle and used it for crime.

The police registered a case against unidentified people.

Meanwhile, PML-Q Information Secretary Kamil Ali Agha condemned the incident. He suspected it to be a handiwork of the PML-N.