25 September 2004	Saturday	09 Shaban 1425

HARIPUR, Sept 24: Haripur Tehsil Nazim Iftikhar Ahmad Khan has accused the JUI-F leadership of protecting people alleged to have made attempt on his life.

Mr Khan had sustained bullet injuries when two allegedly hired men opened fire on his official car on August 18.

The Khalabat Township police had later arrested two Afghan refugees, Saifoor Khan and Shah Wali. Initially they confessed to their crime, saying they had been hired by JUI-F's local leader Syed Alamzeb Shah and one Malik Khan Afsar.

However, they later changed their statement by saying that they had been tortured by police and implicated in a false case. Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Mr Khan said the JUI-F's district amir Syed Alamzeb Shah and Khan Afsar wanted to settle some old score with him.

He said there was a dispute between Mr Shah and him over a plot reserved for a playground. Mr Shah and his associates wanted to grab that piece of land for the construction of a madressa, he alleged.

He said that a case in this regard was pending in court. He said that he was satisfied with the police investigation of the case but accused opposition leader in the National Assembly Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani and Senator Gul Nasib Khan of favouring the accused and exerting pressure on police to spoil his case.

He lamented that while these leaders preached Islam and its fundamentals, justice and equity, covertly they supported criminals. He produced an FIR lodged against Syed Alamzeb Shah and Malik Khan Afsar on Feb 2, 1978, under section 307/34 of PPC, in which both were accused of opening fire at a prayer leader and others in a mosque.

He announced that he will call a grand jirga to decide the fate of the two accused. He urged the NWFP governor and police top brass to help him take the culprits to task.