MPA Zehri’s men defy police orders and assault mediamen

The police stopped the vehicle as it had tinted windows.

JACOBABAD:

The security entourage of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Sardar Sanaullah Zehri threatened the police on Friday, leading to panic in the area.

The police began following a black Prado in Jacobabad, because its tinted windows aroused their suspicion. The authorities caught up with the vehicle and ordered its occupants to stop and step out, near the city police station on Quaid-e-Azam road. However, the people inside the car locked their doors and refused to get out. In retaliation the police surrounded the car and tried to force their way in.

During this ongoing struggle, six similar vehicles arrived. The men in these other cars, who were later identified as Zehri's bodyguards and gunmen, asked the police to let their companions go. When the police refused to comply, one of the men threatened to open fire if the police refused to pay heed to their demands. When the angered authorities asked the men to identify themselves, the men responded by raising their guns. Consequently the policy stepped aside, letting all seven vehicles flee from the scene but soon they started following the men again. The chase ultimately led the police to Quetta road, where they found all seven vehicles parked outside PML-N MNA Zahoor Ahmed Khoso's house.

According to sources, the SP Masroor Jatoi and DSP Abdul Hameed Thakrani went inside the house and met Zehri, who had been visiting Khoso to discuss the election strategy for PB-26 Jaffarabad. When Jatoi and Thakrani asked Zehri to hand over the men responsible for challenging the police, he responded that the men were his body guards and thus could not be arrested. He added that the ammunition carried by his body guards was licenced. When Jatoi and Thakrani stepped outside to address the media, they added that the arms licences of the politician's security personnel were being checked.

The situation was further discussed by other PML-N politicians and the police behind closed doors, when Zehri's gunmen rudely informed journalists that they had printed incorrect facts about their employer, including a recent one that he has been sent to jail. Subsequently, the guards beat up a journalist and cameraman and dragged them inside the residence. The two men were rescued by the policemen inside the house. This caused the journalists' union to stage a protest outside Zehri's residence.



Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2011.