HYDERABAD: Belgian national seeks president’s help
By M.H. Khan
HYDERABAD, March 26: A Belgian national of Pakistan origin, Raja Sikandar Hayat Khan, has appealed to President General Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and other government leaders to help him, failing which, he alleges, he will be ruined by the Hyderabad city police acting against him at the instance of some hardened criminals out to destroy him financially to save their monopoly over transport business.
“Otherwise, I will have no option but to close my business and return to Belgium which I left in response to calls by President General Pervez Musharraf for investment by expatriates,” he said adding that he had invested approximately Rs60 million but he was being threatened with registration of false cases by police.
Addressing a press conference at the press club on Sunday, he said that he was being victimized by police, particularly by the SP headquarters of Hyderabad police, as he was not ready to listen to his viewpoint about the usefulness of his transport business.
His buses plying on the Hyderabad-Karachi route from Baldia bus stand had been impounded, he alleged.
Giving the background for his return to the country, he said that he had come here in 2000 and invested in small industries and transport business, but some elements did not like him, and in collusion with the civil administration, managed to get his Hyderabad-Karachi route buses plying with valid transport documents, issued by concerned provincial authorities, closed since March 7.
He said that the president should compensate him so that he could return to Belgium or he might appeal to his embassy and the UN about the treatment being meted out to him by the Hyderabad police authorities.
Showing his passport, his driving licence and Belgium’s identity card, Raja Sikandar said that “police were giving full protocol to criminals despite the fact that they are absconding accused in some criminal cases, lodged in the current month”.
He said that his buses had been plying for six years on the routes with the permission and NOC from the Provincial Transport Authority (PTA) and there were no complaints against the service with the government functionaries in Karachi or Hyderabad.
He added that for the past several days some elements whom he described as criminals launched a bus service after obtaining NOC from District Regional Transport Authority (DRTA) which, according to him, is in flagrant violation of a detailed order of the Sindh High Court Hyderabad circuit bench in civil revision 133/2004.
He said that the PTA had cancelled the same permission on Jan 25, 2006 but these elements concealed facts to obtain an order from a court, directing the parties to maintain “status quo” in the matter which meant that both sides would run their buses.
However, he said, these people along with some criminals on March 7, tortured passengers, forced them to leave the bus and stopped the bus service in violation of Civil Court’s orders.
He said that he had filed a contempt application with the court but the district administration did not allow his buses to ply and on March 22 SHO Baldia police station closed the Baldia bus stand.
He said that it was in spite of the fact that the high court’s order was self-explanatory, providing separate routes to buses originating from Badin bus stop and Baldia bus stand.
He said that Qasimabad TPO on March 24 checked documents of both parties and decided that only valid documents holders would run the service.
However, he alleged that the SP arrived along with the absconding accused and ordered him to run his service in collaboration with the latter, “but, I refused because
I have valid permission and I cannot work with any criminal.
My reply annoyed the SP and he threatened me that he was SP and would impound my buses, put me in jail after implicating me in cases”, he alleged.
He said that he had appeared before the SP to seek justice by filing three applications but he did not reply to any of them.
He said that he and his staff had sustained losses of around Rs50,000 per day.
He said that he should be allowed to run his busses legally and those running buses illegally should be stopped.
He apprehended serious threat to his life at the hands of his rivals.
He said that he had been living in Belgium until 2000 when he responded to the leadership’ call to make Pakistan stronger by investing capital here and made investment in transport business but within a couple of years he got disappointed because of activities of anti-social elements.
“I am at a crossroads whether to return to Belgium or play my role for the economic development of Pakistan,” he said.
