Pakistan army officer dies after falling into ditch, another hurt

Lahore: A senior Pakistan army officer died, while another suffered serious injuries after falling into a ditch on the Rawalpindi-Peshawar Motorway near Hazro in Punjab province.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of Pakistan Army, Lt Col Shahid and Major Jalal were travelling from Rawalpindi to Nowshera in a military convoy last night. "Since the routes were blocked with containers, both officers got down from vehicles and were on foot to find an alternate route for the convoy," a statement by ISPR read.

"In the dark of the night both officers fell from the road edge into a ditch along the motorway near Hazro. Due to the incident, Shahid died on the spot, while Jalal sustained serious injuries," the ISPR statement said.

The PML-N government has placed hundreds of containers on different roads leading to Islamabad from Punjab to Khyber Pakhtaunkhawa provinces in order to stop the supporters of PTI chairman Khan from reaching there on November 2 on his call to lock-down the capital from the rest of the country.

Both the army and opposition Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) indirectly and directly blamed the Nawaz Sharif government for the death of Lt Col Shahid.

Khan held the government responsible for blocking roads which led to the death of the army officer. "Saddened to learn of the death of Lt Col Shahid and sustaining of serious injuries by Maj Jalal on Motorway because of the government blockade by containers," he tweeted.

He has demanded either accountability or resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for having off-shore holdings revealed by Panama Papers. "If Nawaz Sharif does not accept our one of the demands, his government will be sent home," he said.

Sharif said since the Supreme Court has taken up the Panama case there is no justification of lock-down of the capital by the PTI.

Meanwhile, after Islamabad the government has also imposed ban on public gathering in Punjab province.