Imran’s sister ‘harassed by cops on VIP duty’

Maryam Nawaz says nobody from her security detail was involved

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s sister Dr Uzma said on Friday that she and her two children were harassed and threatened in Gulberg III area by policemen in the security protocol apparently of Maryam Nawaz Sharif, daughter of Prime Minister Nawaz sharif.

Speaking to the media, Dr Uzma said she and her children, Amna and Abdullah, were on their way to for Friday prayers when their car was stopped by policemen in a VIP security detail. She said a police vehicle was parked in front of their car to prevent them from driving away from the site. She said when she and her children got out of the car guns were aimed at them and some policemen threatened to shoot them, she added.



She said the scene had brought back memories of an incident last year when her children were manhandled by some policemen.

Dr Uzma said that she had gone inside the house of Chaudhry Asim Gujjar where the policemen were deployed. She said she was told that they were performing security duty with Maryam Nawaz Sharif.

Dr Uzma said she would not register an FIR in the matter because she did not trust the police. She said no action had been taken against policemen who had manhandled her children last year.

Later, Maryam Nawaz dismissed the suggestion that anyone from her security protocol was involved in the incident. She said she had been in Islamabad at the time the incident was reported in the media. She had landed at the Lahore airport at 4:30pm, she said.



Operations DIG Dr Haider Ashraf said that the police had not received any complaint in the matter. He said they were still investigating the incident and trying to verify the allegations. He said a large number of dignitaries including foreign delegates moved around in the city every day. He said the police did not have prior information of a VIP movement in the area.

In a statement, PTI information secretary Naeemul Haq condemned the incident and said that the Sharif family was using the police as their personal servants.

Speaking to the media in Karachi, PTI chief Imran Khan criticised the Sharif family for promoting VIP culture in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2016.