Daily Times

KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto has moved to the Sindh High Court, seeking adequate security and permission to travel with personal guards.

He filed the petition through his counsel requesting the court to issue directives for the federal and provincial governments to provide round-the-clock security cover in view of the reports of the security agencies regarding serious threats to his life.

The PPP chairman pleaded the court to direct the authorities to allow him to have his personal security guards with licensed arms while traveling or addressing public meetings throughout Pakistan. In the petition, Bilawal submitted that being the chairman of PPP he had to travel to address public gatherings and discharge public duties for the welfare of the people at large.

The security agencies have issued reports regarding serious threats to his life therefore; there is grave concern about his security, it said. The petitioner stated that he had apprehension about his personal security as he had been receiving threats to his life and property from terrorist organisations.

Bilawal, represented by Advocate Akhtar Hussain, said that her mother Benazir Bhutto, the two-time former prime minister, was assassinated in a public gathering in Rawalpindi, whereas her father being co-chairman of the party has been receiving threats from the extremists. The law and order situation in the country was precarious and several political leaders and important personalities had been assassinated in the past, he added.

The petitioner said that in view of the law and order situation and security threats, his life and property was in serious danger, therefore, he needs adequate security and wanted to travel with personal security guards. A division bench of the Sindh High Court headed by Chief Justice Sajjad Ali is likely to take up the petition today.