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LAHORE: A leader of Pakistan Muslim League (N), Pir Bin Yamin Rizvi was put to death with fire in Lahore Saturday. Reports say that some unknown persons attacked his car by opening gun-fire, which resulted in his death.

Bin Yamin Rizvi, a frontline opposition leader, was a close associate of Pakistan's deposed Prime Minister, Mian Nawaz Sharif, who is now-a-days leading life in exile on the soils of Saudi Arabia.

Sharif was unseated from Premiership in a bloodless coup d'état in October-1999 where after General Pervez Musharraf took over the reigns of power as Chief Executive of the country and later assumed the office as the President of Pakistan.

In-depth

Pir Binyameen Rizvi was shot dead along with his security guard and driver by unknown assailants at the Punjab University new campus here Saturday morning.

PML (N) spokesman Zaeem Qadri says that the party leader was heading home from the party office after performing routine organizational responsibilities when two motorcyclists armed with sophisticated weapons intercepted the vehicle near Hostel No.4 and opened indiscriminate fire.

The shooting was so sudden that the security guard sitting at the front seat failed to respond, while a number of bullets hit Pir Binyameen who was sitting on the rear seat.

ll three inmates of the vehicle died on the spot, said the PML (N) spokesman. He said that the deceased politician had no personal enmity, and termed the death a great national loss.

Target Killing

Model Town police officials Saturday said that murder of PML (N) leader, Pir Binyameen Rizvi may be an incident of target killing.

"The incident seems to be act of target killing. The motives may be old enmity or terrorism," Superintendent Police, Model Town, Lahore, Farhan Mirza said.

The bodies of the slain have been removed to the city morgue for post-mortem.

Sketch

Binyameen (47) hailed from Phalia (district Mandi Bahauddin) and was the son of late Pir Muhammad Yaqub Rizvi, Sajjada Nasheen [Religious Heir] of Phalia Sharif.

He was elected member of the Punjab Assembly thrice, and had twice served as a provincial minister. The PML (N) leader is survived by a widow, three daughters and a son.

Backdrop

Rizvi, the vice president of the party for Punjab, the province of which Lahore is the metropolis, was at least the third opposition politician to be assassinated this year.

On June-17, gunmen fatally shot Munawar Soharwardi, a spokesman for the opposition Pakistan People's Party led by another ex-prime minister, Ms Benazir Bhutto, in a drive-by shooting in the southern city of Karachi.

People's Party lawmaker Abdullah Murad was killed in an ambush in Karachi in March last.