July 4, 2003	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 3,1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 3: Leaders of People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) have criticized the government for ‘victimizing’ the opponents through “political blackmailing” and use of force.

The PPP president, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, while talking to newsmen here on Thursday said the government was not only victimizing the politicians but also harassing their relatives.

Flanked by party parliamentarians, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Chaudhry Zamarrud, Syed Nayyar Bukhari, Farhatullah Khan Babar, Enver Baig and Farzana Raja, the PPP president vowed that the party would continue its struggle for the sovereignty of parliament.

He termed the court decision of unseating an MMA MNA from Kohat an act of “political blackmailing”. He asked the government to respect human rights and stop political victimization. Such acts would tarnish the country’s image at international level.

Mr Fahim also termed the arrest of Pir Mukarram and detention of party’s district council member Nargis Faiz Malik by FIA “criminal acts”. He accused the government of arresting Pir Mukarram because his wife, MPA Farzana Raja, and niece, MPA Marvi Mazhar, had been protesting against the Legal Framework Order (LFO) and Gen Musharraf. He said Pir Mukarram was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) despite the fact that he was reinstated by a tribunal after clearing him from all charges.

Farzana Raja said her husband had not been arrested but “kidnapped” by the agencies’ men. She said Pir Mukarram had been working in Printing Corporation of Pakistan Press since 1973 and whenever PPP governments were dismissed in the past, he had to face victimization .

Ms Farzana said Pir Mukarram was suffering from diabetes and he had been denied medical treatment. She said the family of Pir Mukarram was concerned over his health condition and requested the authorities to allow him medicines and treatment on humanitarian ground. She said before her husband’s arrest, she had been receiving “threatening telephone calls, asking her to make a deal with the government”. She said Pir Mukarram had been arrested on corruption charges committed during the printing of telephone directories in 1994. She said the government had re- opened the file, which was closed after authorities failed to find anything against Pir Mukarram.

Nargis Faiz Malik, the member of district council, said she was going to her home from her office in F-7 with her father on Wednesday, when four persons in a double cabin vehicle intercepted them at Zero Point. She said these persons were carrying Kalashnikovs and took them to a police station at gunpoint. She said the policemen did not let them out of the car for a long time and harassed them. She further said the police had also detained and later released her sister and a four-year- old niece. She said the police arrested her despite the fact that she had obtained pre-arrest bail from a court in a case in which she had been accused of not returning Rs140,000 to a man.

Ms Nargis accused the government of victimizing her for arranging a function on Benazir Bhutto’s 50th birth anniversary.

Raja Pervez Ashraf said the NAB had become an instrument for victimization. He said the party leaders and activists were not afraid of such tactics and they would continue their struggle against the LFO.