Journalist accuses MPA of misusing authority

RAWALPINDI: A journalist has accused a member of the Punjab Assembly of influencing the police to not register a case against a group of men allegedly involved in torturing him.

40-year-old Raheel Ansar was badly beaten up by a group of people in August 2009. Ansar lost vision in his left eye due to the beating. Ansar says that MPA Punjab Malik Yasir Raza is now influencing the police and stopping them from taking action against those responsible for the violence. The police are refusing to implicate those accused in the case. “No arrests have been made so far,” Ansar said. “I have lodged multiple complaints with the City Police Officer (CPO) Rawalpindi, SP Potohar and even the chief minister Punjab but (all) in vain,” he added.

“I have documented evidence that shows Malik Yasir Raza is using his political influence to benefit those who beat me,” he said. The Express Tribune was shown official police documents with a note attached to the report. The note reads “Malik Yasir Raza had called” and has signature of the CPO’s Reader Chaudhry Nazir Ahmad on it. The incident happened when a group of people stopped Ansar from parking a car in front of his own house.

Four of the accused including Kamran, Nadeem, Waqas and Saeed, who were allegedly drunk at the time, started beating him up when he resisted. Ansar was hit by an iron rod in the face. His left eye was badly damaged. Ansar went to the Airport Police station to lodge a complaint. They refused to file an FIR saying they needed a medical report first. “They (the people who had beaten me) used their influence (to scare the doctors) and stopped the doctors from giving me a medical report,” Ansar said.

He got the medical report in February 2010, five months after the incident. “It (the report) clearly stated that I had lost vision from my left eye,” Ansar added. He approached the City Police Officer Rao Muhammad Iqbal with the medical report and was referred to SP Potohar Kamran Adil. “He (SP Adil) took three separate complaints from me but took no action,” Ansar said. Ansar believes the four accused have links with MPA Raza and have asked him to stop a case from being filed against them.

MPA Raza, when approached, denied the allegations levelled against him. “I can come anywhere to prove that I am not involved in any such case. These allegations are false,” he said. “I think I am being blackmailed. This has become very common- I handle such cases daily,” he added. The police officials were not available for a comment, despite repeated attempts. Meanwhile Ansar has applied to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take a suo moto notice of the incident. While the court has summoned the case documents from the police, it is yet to schedule a hearing.

Published in the Express Tribune, May 13th, 2010.