RAWALPINDI, March 1: The national assembly members belonging to Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal on Saturday condemned the government for giving foreign agencies a free hand and called for releasing a man allegedly arrested by the FBI on Friday night.

MNAs, Mohammad Hanif Abbasi, Mian Aslam and local leaders of MMA, Mohammad Abbas Butt, Dr Mohammad Kamal and Maulana Abdul Jalil held a joint press conference at the Rawalpindi Press Club.

They said about 20 people dressed in blue uniforms forced their way into the house of Abdul Qudus, a former UN employee, in Westridge at around 3am and whisked away his son, Ahmad Abdul Qudus. They broke the doors and walls of the house, searched the

premises and locked Mr Ahmad’s wife and two sons in a room at gunpoint. They also took away foreign currency notes and computers, the MMA leaders said.

They termed it very shameful the way innocent people were being harassed and dishonoured. Even the police station concerned did not know about the raid and no FIR had been registered so far, they deplored. They said they would raise the issue in the national assembly session.

It seems that every bearded person is being taken for an associate of Al Qaeda and, therefore, can be arrested, the MMA leaders regretted.

The MMA members claimed that the government was following the US dictates. They warned that they would launch a protest against the raids of foreign agencies throughout the country. They also called for taking action against the FBI agents.