PESHAWAR: Two PPP groups scuffled during a meeting held here on Tuesday, which was also attended by former prime ministers Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf.
The scuffle broke out when a local leader, Jehanzeb Khan, stood up as soon as Mr Gilani ended his speech and started accusing him of ignoring genuine workers when the PPP was in government.
He alleged that in the local government elections the party had again ignored genuine workers and awarded tickets to blue-eyed persons.
His utterances infuriated other workers present there, triggering a scuffle between the two groups.
Soon fist fighting started and some enraged workers roughed upJehanzeb and pushed him out of the venue of the meeting.
Mr Gilani and Mr Ashraf visited the Lady Reading Hospital to enquire after the wounded victims of the rainstorm.
Mr Gilani, while speaking at the meeting, stressed upon the federal and provincial governments to immediately complete the damage assessment for early rehabilitation of the mini-cyclone affected areas of the Peshawar valley.
He said that he had directed the party leadership in KP to gather data of the damage as the party wanted to help the victims.
Mr Gilani expressed deep sorrow over the loss of precious lives and asked the provincial government to launch a housing scheme for the families, whose houses had beenuprooted in the storm. The former prime ministerasl
He said that the people of KP had rendered numerous sacrifices in the drawn out war on terror and natural disasters.
He said that the former PPP-led government had returned respectfully to their homes a large number of people displaced due to militancy in different areas.
`Displacement of 3.5 million people from Malakand division was a major challenge for the then PPP government, but it handled the situation successfully,` he added.
Mr Gilani also took credit for awarding new name (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) to the provincewhich had been the longstanding desire of the people. He added that PPP had ensured that each province received its due share in the federal devisable fool.
The PPP senior leader maintained that his party had always made efforts for ensuring due rights to each province, including Balochistan and KP. He said that initiation of Benazir Income Support Programme was an honour for PPP which was appreciated both at national and international level.
Mr Gilani said that ensuring of basic facilities of education and health could help curb militancy in Fata. `The federal government should take tangible steps to improve education infrastructure in the tribal region,` he added.
