March 16, 2003	Sunday	Muharram 12, 1424

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FAISALABAD, March 15: The local police have reportedly refused to register a criminal case against a major of the ISI and his unidentified subordinates on charge of kidnapping and torturing the deputy opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly, Rana Sanaullah Khan.

Official source told this correspondent on Saturday that the Kotwali police, on the instructions of the district police officer, termed the Sanaullah incident as non-cognizable.

In a complaint lodged with the district police officer, Rana Sanaullah said that a major of the ISI and his around a dozen armed subordinates intercepted his car (No FDU 59) on Circular Road at 8.30pm on March 8.

The armed men forcibly took him to the office of the ISI, adjacent to PIA’s Faisalabad building. His driver Abdul Majeed, secretary Tariq Janbaz and a number of passers-by witnessed the kidnapping.

The MPA alleged that his ‘kidnappers’ severely tortured him and brutally cut his hair after snatching Rs4,000 and a cellular phone from him.

Later, the kidnappers threw him on the service lane of Sargodha Road.

Rana Sanaullah claimed that he was kidnapped and tortured to destabilize the campaign of the PML-N, launched against the misdeeds of the rulers.

ARRESTED: Police arrested 39 men for selling lottery tickets, identical to prize bond numbers, in different parts of the city on Friday night.

The accused were arrested from a number of shops and houses in Abdullahpur, Usmanabad, Peoples Colony, Islam Nagar, Jaranwala Road, Rail Bazaar and adjoining rural areas.

The arrested men were sent to jail after registration of cases against them. Police also recovered thousands of rupees from them.