August 18, 2006	Friday	Rajab 22, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: A group of People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) legislators on Thursday accused the government of harassing and victimising them for exposing the mega corruption of the rulers.

Speaking at a news conference at the cafeteria of Parliament House, the PPP legislators alleged that the government had even started victimising the relatives and family members of the opposition members to suppress their voice.

They said though the government had been targeting all party members and office-bearers, those who had been vocal against the rulers’ corruption inside and outside parliament, were focus of the government’s witch-hunt. PPP MNA from Mirpurkhas Syed Qurban Ali Shah accused the government of targeting his family members due to his opposition to the ongoing corruption of the government in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meetings.

The PPP MNA claimed that it was because of his demand that the PAC took a suo motu notice of the stock market scam and sugar crisis in the country. Similarly, Mr Shah said that he had raised the issue of purchase of faulty railway engines from China in the PAC meetings.

Mr Shah alleged that as a result of his role in parliament and the PAC, the government had now started victimising his daughter Ambreen Shah, presently working as deputy commissioner income tax in Karachi.

He said his daughter had received a cash prize and a certificate on June 14 for her good performance and now the government had sent a special team to hold an inquiry against her on the basis of an anonymous letter.

He said her daughter had recovered 117 per cent more tax due to her good performance. He alleged that all this was being done to keep him silent. He said he would continue to expose the misdeeds of the rulers and alleged that the present chairman of the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) Abdullah Yusuf was behind the whole episode.

PPP MNA from Kasur, Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed, alleged that the killing of the brother of Abdul Qayyum Jatoi, the nazim of Muzaffargarh, was also part of the government’s victimisation campaign.

He said the word “corruption” was too small for the government involved in massive scandals. He said the opposition members would continue to highlight the rulers’ corruption.

Naheed Khan said people had largely hailed the Supreme Court verdict in Pakistan Steel Mills privatization case. She asked Gen Musharraf to stop maligning the whole army, as his stay in uniform would bring a bad name to those defending the geographical borders of the country.

Fauzia Wahab, Dr Azra Fazal, Nafeesa Munawar Raja, Mehreen Anwer Raja, Ramesh Lal, Anwer Bhutto and some other MNAs were also present on the occasion.