LAHORE, Nov 18: MNA Maimoona Hashmi said here on Tuesday that the arrest of her father Makhdoom Javed Hashmi was an indicator as to how personal security guaranteed by the Constitution had become violable during the military regime.

Speaking at the Lahore High Court Bar on Tuesday, she alleged that her father was tortured during ‘illegal’ detention. This also showed that the rulers had no respect for parliament and its members, she said.

She was invited to speak to the bar by the PML-N lawyers group with the purpose of listening to her about the process she had undergone from the arrest of her father to the rejection of his bail application by the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court.

Ms Maimoona, elected to the National Assembly on a seat reserved for women, said that the military rule had destroyed all national institutions, undermined democracy and made the rule of law a matter of whims. She said that nobody could ever think of her father bringing the armed forces to defame. But he was arrested on the charges because the rulers wanted to punish him for his courageous stand on the question of the Legal Framework Order (LFO), a president in uniform and the National Security Council which, she said, were unconstitutional measures which the rulers wanted to legalize and give constitutional cover.

She said the ARD would not accept such unconstitutional steps and it had shown on the floor of the National Assembly and the Senate that it would not compromise on principals. He said the struggle to safeguard the Constitution and rule of law would continue no matter how many arrests and detentions the military rulers made.

Maimoona said that the military regime had also defamed politicians because it wanted to legitimize and perpetuate its rule and no civilized society could accept such a jungle law. Pakistan, she said, was passing through a difficult phase and it was not politicians alone but the people from the all walks of life who had to support them in their struggle for a just socio-economic order.