LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Emir Sirajul Haq led funeral prayers of slain local politician Mirza Tanvir Baig here on Sunday.

Advocate Baig was gunned down by two motorcyclists after he appeared in the murder case of two Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) workers, who had been shot dead in their office by hooligans last year a few days before the local body polls.

Talking to the media, Haq said the rulers would be held responsible for the blood of innocent people. He lamented that Baig was gunned down under the very nose of the chief minister. He also said that if the family of the deceased did not get justice in time, it would be presumed that the Punjab rulers had a hand in the murder.

The JI threatened that if the government did not provide justice to the aggrieved family “we have other ways to get justice”.

He alleged that the rulers were eliminating their political opponents in targeted killings and even first information reports were not being registered.

While PTI Chairman Imran Khan condemned the killing of Baig as his party worker, Haq claimed the deceased was a local JI leader and candidate for chairman in Yakki Gate Union Council falling in the National Assembly constituency of Hamza Shahbaz in the local bodies elections last year.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2016