Victory-drunk Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) supporters Saturday squashed the code of conduct by celebratory aerial firing after wining election in a Cantonment Board ward.
A footage aired on local news channel “Samaa TV” shows a man shooting in the air with an AK-47 defying Section 144 that prohibits even carrying firearms.
Another clip shows a PMLN partisan firing rounds from a pistol to announce his candidate’s victory in Lahore.
Minister for Railways, Khawaja Saad Rafique, refused to own up the N-leaguers violations and pinned the whole blame on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Rafique while talking to local news channel said “The shooters were not PMLN workers. In fact they were PTI hooligans who opened fire and injured our enthusiasts. I can show you the wounded PMLN supporters in the hospital,” Rafique
Rafique came down hard on the PTI for resorting to violence.
“We will never let Lahore become what Karachi has turned into. Also we do not believe in the politics of vengeance and will have the law serve justice on the criminals who are hiding under the wings of PTI,” the minister said.
Later, Minister for Planning & Development Ahsan Iqbal, came down hard of media for singling out only PMLN after the shootings.
“These were individual incidents and not a matter of the party policy. Why is PMLN being held responsible for someone’s personal actions,” Ahsan said.
Later, police told Samaa that four people have been taken into custody for flouted Section 144.
Bullets fired into the air usually fall back with terminal velocities much lower than their muzzle velocity when they leave the barrel of a firearm. Nevertheless, people can be injured, sometimes fatally, when bullets discharged into the air fall back down to the ground.
Bullets fired at angles less than vertical are more dangerous, as the bullet maintains its angular ballistic trajectory, is far less likely to engage in tumbling motion, and so travels at speeds much higher than a bullet in free fall. (PhotoNews / Samaa Tv)