ISLAMABAD, March 12: People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) minority MNA from Sindh, Ramesh Lal, has accused the government of victimizing opposition members and expressed his concern over law and order situation in the province.

Speaking at a news conference at the PPP Media Centre here on Friday, the PPP MNA said the Sindh government had completely failed to provide protection to the minority people of the province.

He said two persons Ratan Kumar and Raja Shiv had been kidnapped from Dadu and Larkana areas respectively, and the police had failed to recover both of them despite the passage of several days.

The PPP MNA alleged that a police official was involved in the kidnapping of Ratan Kumar. He said the police was reluctant to take action against the culprits allegedly due to the influence of Federal Minister for Industries Liaquat Ali Jatoi. Now, he said, the inspector general of police had promised that the kidnapped persons would be recovered soon.

Moreover, Mr Lal alleged that the son of another federal minister had illegally occupied a commercial plot, owned by the PPP minority wing president, Ishwar Lal, in Sukkur. He said Ishwar Lal was the son of former MPA Megha Ram.

The MNA accused the eldest son of the railways minister of illegally occupying and constructing a boundary wall around the plot worth Rs20 million. He said the plot was situated at the commercial centre of the city. He said the minority members had contacted the said minister and even approached Gen Pervez Musharraf, but no action had so far been taken by the administration.

He claimed that they were being victimized because of their association with the PPP.

In reply to a question, the MNA said he had submitted an adjournment motion on the issue to the National Assembly Secretariat on Thursday. However, he expressed the fear that the speaker would not give him the floor of the House to raise the issue.

Mr Lal said he had refused to receive Rs60,000, offered to him by the minister for minorities, Rais Munir Ahmed, for distribution among the needy people in his constituency. "How can I help hundreds of thousands of poor people with this meagre amount?" the MNA said.