HYDERABAD, Oct 31: PML-N Leaders and MPAs belonging to opposition parties have condemned the arrest of ARD president and acting president of PML-N Javed Hashmi and demanded his immediate release.
Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Friday, PML-N leader Afzal Gujjar, Roshan Baloch and Ms Raeesa Rehman and MPAs, Zahid Bhurgari (PPP) and Abdur Rehman Rajput (MMA) said that the modus operandi adopted by the rulers in the arrest of Mr Hashmi indicated as if he was not an honourable member of parliament but an Al Qaeda terrorist.
They said that the generals always used the darkness of the night to commit such abominable acts.
They said that the generals always arrested popular leaders at midnight, they abrogated the constitution in the darkness of the night and they overthrew elected governments at night.
They claimed that even otherwise the arrest of Mr Hashmi was illegal because no MP could be arrested during the on-going session of the National Assembly without the permission of the speaker.
They said that the speaker had no inkling about the arrest of Mr Hashmi.
They saluted the pro-democratic army personnel who had written letters to MPs.
They said that they loved the defence forces personnel but the generals were a different proposition as they had defamed the army.
They pointed out that it were the politicians who had brought back 90,000 prisoners of war and tried to restore the honour of armed forces. But what did the generals do they asked? The generals, they said, executed the prime minister, who had given them atom bomb and expelled the other prime minister who had test fired the nuclear device not withstanding appeals, temptations and threats by the US.
They said that it was now upto the people to decide whether Javed Hashmi was a traitor or those who had distorted the 1973 Constitution, derailed democracy, killed innocent Muslims in Afghanistan to appease the US and made judiciary controversial.
They said that Javed Hashmi is a brave man and he had and will always keep the flag of democracy flying.
They said that his only fault was that he had kept the people informed about the wrong politics of the government which were detrimental to the integrity and solidarity of Pakistan.
They demanded immediate release of Javed Hashmi.
Our Shikarpur Correspondent adds: Activists of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) held a protest meeting here on Thursday to condemn the arrest of Javed Hashmi, acting PML president and chairman Alliance for Restoration of Democracy.
The meeting, with Malik Hadi Bux in the chair, expressed concern over the arrest and termed it an act of political victimization.
PML-N leaders Mohammad Ayub Daudpoto, Phool Chand, Asghar Arain, Ghulam Rasool Buriro and others demanded early release of Mr Hashmi.
They threatened to launch a protest campaign against the arrest of leader.
DAILY WAGE EARNERS: Abdul Qayoom, president, All Pakistan Telecom Foundation Association of Daily Wage Employees, has expressed concern over the anti-labour attitude of the PTCL management towards the regularization of daily wages workers.
He reminded that the Federal Service Tribunal Commission and the Supreme Court of Pakistan had accepted daily wage workers as civil servants.
He appealed to the prime minister to regularize the daily wages workers.
INJURED: Four men — Inam, Gohram, Bahawal and Ali Gohar — were injured by gun men when they were returning to homes after harvesting paddy crop in Gul Mohammad Jatoi village on Thursday evening.
The assailants were identified as Baad, Jamsher, Laili, Ibrahim, Sarwar, Saino and Bhooro (all Jatois).
The motive behind the incident is said to be a dispute over Karo-Kari. All the injured were admitted to the civil hospital.
