The lawmaker has been implicated in torturing doctors and paramedics at a southern Punjab hospital in May.
Although the prime minister said that he would take up the issue with the Punjab chief minister, a handout issued after the meeting between Gilani and Shahbaz Sharif did not mention anything in this regard.
Gilani urged the PML-N to guarantee in the National Assembly that the police would spare Dasti.
“Madam Speaker! You are the custodian of the house. It is up to you how you proceed when a member is arrested,” the premier said.
Parliamentarians cannot be arrested without the prior permission of either the National Assembly Speaker or the Senate chairman.
Police have registered a case against Dasti and several others, including one of his brothers, under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Dasti has not yet been arrested, but his brother is in police custody.
The MNA resigned from his seat when his seminary degree was found to be fake. Graduation was an eligibility criterion for contesting parliamentary elections in 2008 elections.
Gilani jumped to the beleaguered lawmaker’s rescue after a PPP member Noor Alam Khan claimed that police in Muzaffargarh had raided Dasti’s house overnight to arrest him.
A man from the same town told The Express Tribune that nothing of the sort had happened.
GILANI-SHAHBAZ MEETING
Referring to the incident during a recent by-elections in Multan in which PML-N workers allegedly attacked the vehicle of his brother and injured him and a number of his associates, the handout issued after the meeting of the two leaders said: “The prime minister expressed his concern over the incident and remarked that such unfortunate occurrences could lead to unpleasant developments which could harm the democratic system.”
The issue of Jamshed Dasti’s arrest was also said to have been discussed during the meeting.
The statement quoted the premier as telling Shahbaz that all political parties should show maturity and decent conduct, particularly the elections.
It is essential, he said, to develop a democratic culture in which tolerance and patience should prevail.
The Punjab chief minister agreed with Gilani’s observations and regretted that certain elements had behaved in an unruly manner during the by-elections.
Published in the Express Tribune, June 11th, 2010.
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