ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan People’s Party chief, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, on Tuesday alleged that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was “protecting killers” in the province.

In a statement issued here, he expressed his deep concern over the sheer negligence of the KP government and its “police in ferreting out the real culprits in medical student Asma’s murder and other cases of heinous nature.”

The PPP chief said reports that “the killers of medical student Asma, Sharifan Bibi, minor girl Isma, and student, Mashal, are still at large, due to [the] backing of influential people belonging to the PTI, are disgraceful.”

He added: “It appears that [the] PTI has become a party of several Ladlas ganged up together to protect and guard killers, murderers and even terrorists.”

Bilawal said that a local PTI leader who incited a mob for the barbaric murder of student Mashal Khan had not been arrested even after nine months.

Reports have also confirmed that nephew of the PTI Kohat president and the identified killer of medical student, Asma had fled to Saudi Arabia, which is not possible without collusion of the KP government, he added.

The PPP chairman pointed out that as per media reports the killers of Sharifan Bibi and minor girl Asma were also being shielded by influential leaders of the PTI in the province.

Bilawal strongly condemned the “criminal complicity” of the ruling group’s leaders in such horrific crimes and the silence and laxity of their “chief laadla [blue-eyed]”, who “talks on everything under the sky, minus what is happening under his nose.”

It seems that the PTI has turned into “grandmother” of heinous crimes in the KP, he said.

Meanwhile, British High Commissioner Thomas Drew on Tuesday called on Bilawal here and exchanged views about matters of mutual interests, a PPP statement said.

Senator Sherry Rehman and Mustafa Khokhar were also present on the occasion, said the statement.

Separately, PPP co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal constituted a Parliamentary Board for Senate Elections, 2018. The members are: Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Faryal Talpur, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, Farhatullah Babar, Syed Nayyer Hussain Bukhari and Sabir Baloch.