Teacher torture: Former PPP MPA sent on one-day physical remand

Son protests arrest, says Sharif Brothers wrongly implicated his father.

SARGODHA:

An anti-terrorism court in Sargodha on Wednesday sent former Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Aslam Madhyana on a one-day physical remand on charges of torturing a school teacher and breaking both his legs. The police had requested for an eight-day remand.

Madhyana was produced before the court amid tight security.

Police said Madhyana and his accomplices had attacked a 60-year-old school teacher, Nafees Ahmad Khan, in Sargodha. They said the former MPA and his men beat him so hard that both his legs were broken.

Earlier, before appearing in the court, Madhyana spoke to the media at Chuhng police station in Lahore on Wednesday. He denied the allegations and said that he did not know the teacher.

He alleged that PML-L leaders Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif were trying to take “political revenge” from him by wrongly implicating him in a false case.

The Sargodha police then transferred Madhyana to police station in his native village, Mudh Ranjha.

Back in Sargodha, Madhyana’s son, MPA Owais Aslam Madhyana and more than a dozen men accompanying him protested against his father’s arrest in front of the district police office. The protesters blocked the Bhabra-Mudh Ranjha Road and broke windows of several cars. The protesters were dispersed when the police resorted to baton charge. Several of them were arrested for trying to forcibly enter the police station ahead of DPO Dr Muhammad Rizwan’s scheduled press conference on the case. The DPO, however, could not hold the press conference due to the protest.

Later, while talking to some reporters, Owais Madhyana swore on the Holy Quran that his father was not involved in the beating and torture. He said the allegations were a conspiracy against his father. He also said that his father was not even present when the assault happened and that his only crime was being a loyal PPP member.

Madhyana was granted interim bail by the Lahore High Court on March 5. On Tuesday his lawyer requested the court for the confirmation of the bail, but the request was rejected by the LHC.

The Supreme Court has also taken suo motu notice of the incident and sought a report from all four provincial chief secretaries about steps taken to protect civil servants. They have been given till March 28 to file the report.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2012.