Islamabad, December 27
Gunmen opened fire on supporters of former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today from an office of the party that supports President Pervez Musharraf killing four Sharif supporters, the police said.

It was the worst violence related to a January 8 general election since campaigning began in earnest in mid-December.

Sharif was several kilometres away from the shooting and was on his way to Rawalpindi city after attending a rally.

Sharif blamed supporters of the pro-Musharraf party for the violence but a spokesman for the party denied that its workers were involved.

The shooting occurred near an office of the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (Q).

“Somebody from inside the election office opened fire,” said senior police official Shahid Nadeem Baloch.

“But I can’t say they were Q people,” he said, referring to the pro-Musharraf party. “It’s an election office and lots of people sit there during election time.”

A security official who declined to be identified said the shooting erupted after Sharif supporters tried to hang a banner near the office.

Four people were killed, the police said.

A spokesman for the pro-Musharraf party dismissed suggestions his workers were responsible as a “baseless allegation”.

“None of our workers were involved. We strongly condemn this incident and we hope the law will take its course and the culprits are duly punished,” said the spokesman, Tariq Azim Khan.

Two vehicles were abandoned at the scene with bullet holes.

After the shooting, police and party guards beefed up security around Sharif who got into a bullet-proof vehicle.

“This all happened at the behest of the government,” Sharif told supporters on the outskirts of Rawalpindi. “They are 100 per cent responsible but we are not scared of such actions.”

Earlier, Sharif, who was overthrown by Musharraf in a 1999 coup and allowed back into the country just last month after seven years in exile, had called for a revolution to unseat the pro-Musharraf party.

“You have to bring about a revolution,” Sharif told a crowd of about 10,000 supporters in Gujjar Khan town in Punjab province. — Reuters