Land record scam: PTI leader Mazari arrested in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Former human rights minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shireen Mazari on Saturday was arrested by Punjab’s anti-corruption department and Islamabad Police in a case related to the misplacement of ordinal land record of district Rajanpur.

A four-member team of Punjab’s anti-corruption department and Islamabad city police arrested Mazari outside her house at Sector E-7. Female police personnel dragged Mazari from her car during her arrest, according to footage aired on social media. According to the FIR, a case was filed at the request of Deputy Commissioner Rajanpur, according to which the Anti-Corruption Establishment Punjab registered the case on the complaint of Assistant Commissioner Rajanpur.

A complaint was lodged against her on March 11, 2022, while AC Rajanpur was directed to inquire into the matter of misplacement of original Jamabandi 1971-72 of Muza Kacha Mianwali no 2 Tehsil Rojhan. In response to the AC Rajanpur has furnished his inquiry report on April 8. In light of this report, the Anti-Corruption Establishment registered a criminal case under its Rules 2014.

The officials of anti-corruption shifted Mazari to Lahore following her arrest. Talking to reporters outside the Kohsar police Shireen Mazari’s daughter Imaan Mazari flanked by senator Shibli Faraz and Fawad Chaudhry, termed her mother’s detention a ‘kidnapping’. “She was kidnapped and I would not say she was arrested,” she said.

‘Neutrals’ were not actually ‘neutral’, claims PTI’s Mazari

Imaan said that when someone is arrested, the police inform you on what charge he or she be arrested. “I don’t know where she is. She has been forcibly disappeared by this government because they think women are soft targets,” she said. She warned that she would not spare anyone if anything happens to her mother.

Condemning the arrest of Mazari, former interior minister Sheikh Rasheed said the government had prepared a list of people who are to be arrested as new IGP have been appointed in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. “Shireen Mazari’s arrest is the first step in this regard,” he said, warning that PTI Chairman Imran Khan “could be the next one to be arrested”.

Former minister for parliamentary affairs Ali Mohammad Khan termed the incident a “cowardly act” of the coalition government. The government is not just nervous, it is extremely nervous, he maintained.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar also condemned the incident. “Things never seem to change in the land of the pure. Shireen Mazari is my neighbour & a dear friend. Her arrest is the deplorable and the worst form of political oppression. People who have gone through it themselves and have cried foul in the past, why would they indulge or turn blind eye?”

Following the arrest of Mazari, a large number of PTI workers gathered outside Kohsar police station.

Meanwhile, top police officers including Inspector General of Police (IGP) and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) operation of the capital city have been transferred ahead of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Islamabad proposed ‘long march’. The government has removed IGP Ahsan Younus and appointed Akbar Nasir Khan as the new IGP of Islamabad. SSP operation Muhammad Faisal has also been removed and appointed Sohail Zafer Chatta as the new SSP.

Imran Khan on May 20 during a public gathering at Multan announced that the PTI’s long march would be held any day between May 25 and May 29. After this announcement, a heavy contingent of police rushed to Khan’s residence Bani Gala late night and stayed there till Saturday morning. However, a police officer said that police have conducted a search operation around in the wake of threats to Khan.

During the police search operation, PTI workers staying around Bani Gala came out of their tents and started shouting slogans against the incumbent government.

A large number of tents have been installed at Bani Gala near the residence of Khan for workers and activists of the PTI coming to the capital from different areas ahead of the march. Former minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Khan Gandapur had brought over 250 people from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a police source said, adding that about 60 tents connected with each other have been installed on Kasuri Road where they are staying. The PTI workers have brought bedding and clothes along with them which suggested they are to stay there. A group of Insaf Student Federation (ISF) has also reached Bani Gala.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022