PTI dissident Noor Alam and PPP leaders involved in fight with elderly citizen

ISLAMABAD: PTI dissident Noor Alam Khan and several PPP leaders, including Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar and Faisal Karim Kundi, were involved in a fight with an unidentified elderly at a hotel in Islamabad on Tuesday.

It remains unclear how the scuffle started and who instigated it. Noor Alam did not respond to calls made at his cell phone number.

Footage shared through various social media accounts showed Khokar and Co approaching the elderly amid a state of commotion in what appears to be a dining hall.

Kundi was seen picking up a glass from a nearby table and splashing its contents on the elderly, who responded by throwing an object back at the PPP politician. As the elderly tried to grab onto something else to throw, Khokhar managed to closed in on him and delivered a punch to the head.

The elderly was thrown off balance and floored as PTI dissident Khan joined in and tried grab hold of him before the two parties were separated.

 

PTI leaders condemned the incident, with Hammad Azhar saying the situation was not the same as it was being portrayed.

 

Azhar Mashwani, the former focal person for digital media in Punjab, alleged that PPP’s Nadeem Afzal Chan was involved in the incident as well and that Noor Alam Khan had “inflicted violence” on the citizen.

 

Ali Haider Zaidi questioned if the Supreme Court would take note of the issue.

 

Lawyer and activist Jibran Nasir said he empathised with politicians who get abused but condemned their “violent reactions”. “Our political culture is toxic but [the] solution is compassion, not retaliation,” he said.

 

Noor Alam Khan is one of several PTI dissidents who last month were found staying at the Sindh House in Islamabad and who had said they would vote against party chairman Imran Khan in the vote of no-confidence against him.