PESHAWAR, Oct 30: The Awami National Party (ANP) criticizing the arrest of Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi has termed it a violation of the fundamental rights and democratic values.
In a press release issued here on Thursday, the provincial general secretary of the ANP, Farid Toofan, condemned the arrest of the ARD leader and said: “If there is freedom of expression in the country, then the rulers should let the nation know why such an extreme action has been taken against a political leader.”
“The manner in which Mr Hashmi was picked up is against the democratic norms,” the ANP leader said, adding that an elected representative could not be arrested 15 days before or after the session of the parliament.
The move on the part of the federal government had caused unrest among the whole nation, maintained the ANP leader and demanded that the ARD president should be released immediately.
DEMAND: ARD’s central secretary-general and provincial general secretary PML-N Iqbal Zafar Jaghra has condemned the arrest of Alliance for Restoration of Democracy’s president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi and termed it the worst form of state terrorism, adds PPI.
Commenting on the arrest of Mr Hashmi here on Thursday he said, the way he was arrested could easily be called ‘kidnapping’ and demanded his immediate release.
He said on the one hand the government was making tall claims regarding democracy and on the other it was arresting the people who were working for the restoration of ‘real’ democracy in the country.
He said that very soon a high-level meeting of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy would be called where the future plan of action for the release of its leader would be made.
