April 7, 2003	Monday	Safar 4, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, April 6: The People’s Party Parliamentarians has alleged that one of its Sindh Assembly members is being harassed and asked the provincial government to stop victimization of political opponents.

In a statement, the party urged the judiciary and human rights bodies to take notice of such incidents.

National Assembly member Syed Khurshid Ahmad Shah condemned the victimization of MPA Shafqat Hussain Unnar by the regime for his support to the People’s Party.

He said the MPA had complained that the police allegedly at the behest of provincial minister Haji Altaf Hussain Unnar was raiding his and his supporters’ houses almost daily and the victimization was being termed a family dispute.

He said false cases had been registered against Shafqat Unnar and police officers had refused to accept postings in police stations of Bakrani, Hatri Ghulam Shah and Dokri for fear of being unduly pressured to victimize him.

He complained that the PPP workers who were in the forefront of observing the death anniversary of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto were specially picked up and tortured.

In one case it was alleged that the accused had stolen some material lying on the ground, in another it was alleged that a bicycle was snatched at gunpoint, he said.

Shafqat Unnar alleged that after taking oath as minister, Altaf Unnar forcibly tried to dispossess him of his ancestral land but people loyal to him thwarted the move.

Mr Shah said the MPA’s case was a part of the continuing victimization of PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s loyalists in a futile bid to erode her standing among the masses.