Hit and run: MPA arrested for crushing traffic sergeant to death

Remanded in police custody for five days; says ready to compensate bereaved family

QUETTA: The police on Saturday arrested Balochistan Assembly member Abdul Majeed Khan Achakzai for running over and killing a traffic police officer on duty at GPO Roundabout in Quetta on June 20.

A police team, headed by a senior officer, went to the residence of Achakzai and took him into custody in the early hours of Saturday.

“Yes, we arrested MPA Majeed Achakzai from his residence in Satellite Town area on the charges of running over and killing a traffic police sergeant Haji Attaullah Dashti,” the senior officer at the Civil Lines Police Station confirmed.

Earlier, the Civil Lines police had registered a case against unknown persons despite having the footage of the incident captured by closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at the GPO Roundabout as well as the eyewitness account that Achakzai was present in the vehicle when it ran over the traffic sergeant.



Police produced Achakzai before the court of judicial magistrate Quetta Shahnawaz Langove, who remanded the accused in police custody for five days. He was brought to the judicial magistrate’s court under tight security.

When Achakzai saw newsmen in the court, he expressed anger and passed sarcastic remarks against them.

The unfortunate incident happened on June 20 when a speeding official vehicle belonging to Achakzai directly hit Dashti and injured him seriously. Later, Dashti succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. A cyclist, Abdul Ghafoor Baloch was also injured by Achakzai’s vehicle.

Inspector General of Police Balochistan Ahsan Mehboob and other senior police officials had taken serious notice of the tragic incident and ordered the concerned police officials to register a case against the MPA, who belongs to the Pashtoonkhawa Milli Awami Party.



Achakzai, who is also the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Balochistan Assembly, admitted that he was driving his official vehicle when the accident took place.  He said he would settle the issue by paying compensation to the family of the late traffic sergeant as well as the injured passerby.

Achakzai, who was elected to the Balochistan Assembly in 2013 elections from PB-13 Qila Abdullah, intended to leave for Dera Ghazi Khan along with tribal elders to meet the family of Dashti. A senior police officer had, on Friday night, also confirmed Achakzai’s planned visit to Dera Ghazi Khan.

However, Achakzai was taken into custody in the early hours of Saturday. “We are investigating the incident,” a senior police officer said.