By DPA
Islamabad : Pakistani police were investigating five people, including a former federal cabinet minister and a member of parliament, for involvement in the weekend killing of a rival, news reports said Monday.
Ex-railways minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour was implicated in the killing of former provincial government minister Sayed Qamar Abbas, who was fired upon by unknown assailants near the city of Peshawar Sunday night as he was riding home on a motorbike with a friend.
Both died on their way to hospital, the private Geo news channel said.
"My family has nothing to do with the murder. We condemn it," Bilour told the channel, adding that the incident might be linked with ongoing sectarian violence in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).
Bilour and four members of his family, among them a member of the upper house of the national parliament, were reportedly under suspicion of seeking vengeance for the unsolved murder of Bilour's son in 1997.
Abbas, who has served in the NWFP government and was a member of the liberal opposition, was recently acquitted of the murder.