20 March 2004	Saturday	28 Muharram 1425

ISLAMABAD, March 19: Pakistan Muslim League-N MNA Maimoona Hashmi has accused the government of victimizing her family through use of state machinery and registering false cases against her relatives.

Speaking at a news conference at the Parliament Lodges here on Friday evening, Ms Hashmi said the government had been victimising the members of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) for the past several years and several members of her family had to go to jails due to this victimisation policy.

"My father, Javed Hashmi, is languishing in a solitary confinement in Adiyala Jail," she added. She narrated a long story about military regime's steps to target her family. She said her father had not been arrested for the first time.

Besides, she said the dacoits looted the house of her uncle after holding the whole family members at gunpoint at her native village, Makhdoom Rashid. She alleged that the dacoity took place under the "supervision" of the police, which was also proved later in an inquiry report.

She alleged that a sitting MPA in the Punjab and his brother, who was the deputy inspector general (DIG) police, was the patron of the dacoits' gang, which looted the house of her uncle.