ISLAMABAD: The treasury and opposition parties including the PTI, PPP and JUI-F on Monday condemned police raid at the residence of Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chairman and presidential candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai in Quetta.
A day earlier, the PkMAP alleged that the police raided the house of the party chief without justification and arrested his guard. The party claimed the raid was in reaction to a speech delivered by Achakzai in a recent National Assembly session.
Condemning the raid in a presser yesterday, the party’s central secretary general Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal announced a protest against the incident on Monday (today). He added that the PkMAP and its leadership could not be intimidated by such actions.
Addressing the NA session today, the PkMAP chief maintained that his house was raided for “talking about the supremacy of Parliament”.
Also speaking at today’s NA session, PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari condemned the raid, urging the prime minister to take notice of it. The PPP leader called for a prompt investigation and maintained that such attempts were unnecessarily making the presidential election controversial.
PTI chairperson Barrister Gohar Ali Khan expressed strong reservations about the raid at Achakzai’s house. He maintained that the action violated the sanctity and privacy of the lawmaker’s house. PTI leader Ali Muhammad Khan also condemned the raid, commenting, “If we keep moving in circles and continue to fight, the 250 million people will continue to suffer”.
The JUI-F spokesperson also condemned the police raid on Mahmood Khan Achakzai’s house and termed it regrettable.
Quetta deputy commissioner – who conducted Sunday’s raid in coordination with the local administration, police, and the revenue department claimed that the raid was to recover an empty plot that happened to be near Achakzai’s residence.
“A person was arrested for interfering with the state’s affairs and pointing a weapon at the assistant commissioner,” he informed. The deputy commissioner further maintained that Achakzai had occupied two-and-a-half kanal of government-owned land by erecting walls around it.
The raid
The Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) alleged on Sunday that the police raided the house of party chief and presidential candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai without justification and arrested his personal guard.
Addressing a press conference at the party’s Central Secretariat in Quetta, PkMAP Central Secretary General Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal said that a heavy police contingent raided the house of the party chief “without any magistrate” in violation of the people’s right to privacy, according to a BBC report.
He added that the police also arrested a personal guard of Achakzai, who was in possession of a licensed weapon. The PKMAP leader alleged that the raid came after Achakzai exposed rigging in the recent elections and the people responsible for it in a National Assembly, session on Saturday.
Condemning the raid, Ziaratwal announced protest against the incident on Monday (today). He added that the PkMAP and its leadership could be intimidated by such actions.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl Senator Maulana Hafiz Hamdullah condemned the raid on the house of Achakzai in Quetta. “Mahmood Khan Achakzai is a senior politicians of the country. This cruel action by the administration is intolerable,” Hamdullah said.
On the other hand, former caretaker information minister Jan Achakzai told a separate press conference rejected the allegation of the raid. He said that the police took action against the occupation of a land in front of Achakzai’s house. He added that Achakzai’s guard was arrested for obstructing the police action.
