HARIPUR: Former provincial minister Qazi Mohammad Asad Khan said here on Saturday to file a complaint with Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) under cybercrime law against a worker of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz for making false accusations against him.

Qazi Asad rejected the allegations of sexual assault and blackmailing that a PML-N worker levelled against him through a video clip that he allegedly made viral on social media.

He told journalists through a video message that the PML-N worker was a resident of Paswal village. He added that he used to frequent the PML-N’s meetings pretending that he was a worker of the party and like other youth he used to make pictures with him and other political leaders.

“A couple of years ago the same person called me to seek help for his release from a local drug rehabilitation centre and also accused his own family members for unnecessarily admitting him to the centre,” said the former minister. He added that he declined to extend him any support to him as it was purely his family matter.

However, after a few months of his telephone call, whose mobile number he had blocked, the same person posted a message on his Facebook wall that Qazi Asad would be responsible in case of any harm to his life, he said.

Reacting to that Facebook message, Asad said, he filed a complaint with Saddar police station seeking legal action against him but he fled to Karachi and his family, through a local jirga, convinced him to withdraw the application.

The minister, who won election from Haripur twice during 2002 and 2013, rejected the allegations as inappropriate and slanderous aiming to damage his position and popularity.

He said that the people of his constituency knew him and his family for decades and had trust in his moral credibility and integrities.

When approached for comments Qazi Asad expressed the similar views as he recorded in his video message.

He said that his legal team would formally file a complaint with FIA on Monday, seeking proper investigation and action under cybercrime law to trace the culprits behind the attack on his moral integrities.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2023