HARIPUR: JUI-F senior leader and former MPA from Mansehra Mufti Kifayatullah went on a hunger strike in Haripur jail on Thursday morning complaining about ill-treatment.

He has been kept in the jail since his arrest during a raid on his seminary in Tarangri village on April 14.

The police held him under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order ordinance.

According to son Shabbir Mufti, the JUI-F leader required cataract surgery but his arrest delayed it causing loss of vision in one eye.

He said his father recently complained of problem in the other eye as well, so the ophthalmologists examined him and recommended surgery but the jail administration and Dr Ayaz of the jail hospital didn’t act accordingly.

Kifayatullah complains about ‘ill-treatment’ by admin

Mr Shabbir said his father refused to eat breakfast and observed a ‘complete’ hunger strike.

He said the party’s workers would stage street protests across Hazara division if Mufti Kifayatullah was not taken out to the hospital for eye surgery.

When contacted, the jail administration denied ill-treatment of the JUI-F leader.

An official source said the ailing prisoners were shifted to public sector hospitals on the recommendation of the relevant specialists.

He added that under the rules, the in charge of the jail hospital formally requested the superintendent to seek security for the purpose from the district police officer but in the Mufti Kifayatullah case, the head of the Haripur jail delayed the process.

The source insisted that the jail administration held talks with the JUI-F leader, who would hopefully call off the hunger strike ‘very soon’.

KILLED: A local PML-N activist was gunned down here on Wednesday evening.

The Serae Saleh police said the deceased, Zia Javed Abbasi, had a property dispute with Mansoor of Lora Chowk area.

Mansoor and his father, Saifur Rehman, allegedly opened fire at Abbasi as he was on the way to home. He was shifted to the trauma centre but died of critical injuries.

His family later torched the house of the accused. However, no damage to public life was reported as the family went away soon after the murder.

The police said the accused were at large.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2021