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| August 31, 2005 | Wednesday | Rajab 25, 1426 |
Aziz orders probe into Faisalabad woman case
ISLAMABAD Aug 30: The combined opposition in the National Assembly on Tuesday registered a strong protest against the reported abduction and rape of a woman at the hands of Faisalabad police in a bid to punish her for visiting parliament house in April 2005.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz assured the lower house that he had ordered an immediate inquiry into the incident after reading press reports and that anyone found guilty of the offence would be punished according to the law.
The combined opposition lawmakers, however, did not take the assurance seriously and rose from their seats to express resentment against the reported abuse of honour of a woman by the police and demanded immediate suspension from service of the said police superintendent.
They expressed doubts about the positive outcome of the inquiry ordered by the prime minister in a clear case of criminal assault on a hapless woman whose entire family was suffering and was on the run to escape the wrath of the said police officer.
Sonia Naz, according to a press report, was abducted soon after she was released from Adiala jail and was kept in custody by several armed men for a fortnight after which she was raped by a station house officer in the presence of and on the orders of SP investigations, Faisalabad, Khalid Abdullah, as punishment for running from pillar to post to get her husband freed from police custody.
The Leader of the Opposition, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, threatened to stage an opposition walkout in protest if Mr Aziz failed to order the immediate suspension of the said SP because, he said, no impartial inquiry would be possible in his presence.
He said, “the incident was extremely regrettable as it was the handiwork of police which is supposed to protect the life and honour of citizens”.
Maulana Fazl said the “police officer should have been suspended till the final-inquiry report was completed” so as to make the exercise of ordering a probe “independent and result-oriented”.
The government side did not respond to the leader of the opposition’s demand and before the opposition could walk out of the house, Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain announced a recess for Zuhr prayers and the matter was defused.
Earlier, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA)’s deputy parliamentary leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmed raised the issue of “the worst example of abuse of power by a police officer of Faisalabad” on a point of order during a debate on local body polls.
He waved a copy of a newspaper that had published details of the ordeal through which the unfortunate woman had passed following her release from Adiala jail even though no charge had been proved against her and she had only strayed into parliament house and sat in National Assembly hall.
Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain cleared his position by saying that the woman’s arrest had nothing to do with the incident which had now been reported in the press.
Mehnaz Rafi, a treasury lawmaker who had called for the woman to be arrested when she strayed into the halls of the lower house, said that whatever she had done at that point of time was within the precincts of law and whatever had happened to her later on was not linked to the said incident.
The opposition rose in unison and said that ‘insufficient’ action had been proposed by the prime minister against the S.P. who had terrorized the family of the woman and demanded immediate suspension of the said police officer before the PM-ordered probe was completed.
Earlier, the prime minister, taking the floor to reply to the opposition’s outcry, informed the house that he had ordered an immediate inquiry into the wcase “after reading about the ordeal of the unfortunate woman”.
He announced that appropriate action would be taken against the culprits involved.
In response to the opposition’s hue and cry, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao informed the house that he was directed by the prime minister to hold an immediate inquiry into the case.
Since the matter has been taken up for an impartial inquiry, he said, it would be imprudent to order suspension of any police officer till the process was under way and someone was found guilty of the charges.
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