November 16, 2005	Wednesday	Shawwal 13, 1426

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QUETTA, Nov 15: Leaders of the National Party, Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and Balochistan National Party-Mengal have accused the government of giving secret agencies a free hand to arrest political activists and interfere in political affairs.

Speaking at a joint press conference in the opposition chamber in the assembly secretariat on Tuesday, the leaders said that intelligence personnel in violation of the constitution and fundamental rights had been raiding houses of political activists and harassing relatives of people held in detention.

They accused the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) of double standards for opposing an adjournment motion of the opposition leader that called for a debate on the Sirki road incident of Oct 31.

Opposition leader Kachkol Ali, parliamentary leader of PMAP Abdur Rahim Ziaratwal and deputy parliamentary leader of BNP-M Mir Akhtar Hussain Lango said the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was responsible for the killing of Saboor Kakar in a shooting incident on Sirki road that left three others injured.

Although the Supreme Court and Balochistan High Court had issued separate rulings against the arrest of citizens without fulfilling legal procedures, they said that intelligence agencies had not shown any respect for court decisions.

Criticizing the JUI-F ministers’ decision not to back the adjournment motion tabled by the opposition leader in the house on Tuesday, they said that ministers belonging to religious parties were playing a duplicitous role.

They recalled that only last week Maulana Noor Mohammad, JUI-F’s president in Quetta and chairman of the action committee, had given a call for a shutter down strike in protest against the Sirki road incident.

They said that Minister for BDA Maulana Abdul Rahim Bazai was amongst the protesters who handed over a memorandum to the provincial governor on Nov 1 demanding arrest of ISI officials involved in the killing of Saboor Kakar but the same minister had voted against the adjournment motion on Tuesday.

They called for the release of all detained political activists and urged the government to ensure that intelligence agencies showed respect for both the constitution and the law.

AFGHAN SOLDIERS: A group of Afghan troops crossed into Pakistani territory in Chagai district of Balochistan and kidnapped a Pakistani after depriving the villagers of money and other valuables on Tuesday. Officials said a group of 22 soldiers travelling in three vehicles entered a Pakistani village Killi Bramcha Karez, some 75km west of Dalbandin. They cordoned off the village and looted the villagers at gunpoint.

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