Harassment case: Ex-minister booked for intimidating woman

Complainant claims Shahabuddin’s men threatened her for refusing his advances.

ISLAMABAD: On court orders, the local police on Wednesday registered a case against former health minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin for allegedly threatening a woman.

Last month, complainant Zahida Sami, a human rights activist, had filed an application in the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Kamran Basharat Mufti requesting the court to pass an order for the registration of an FIR against Shahabuddin for allegedly threatening her through his ‘hooligans’.

On March 24, the court ordered the police to register a case against Shahabuddin.

The Bhara Kahu police registered a case against Shahabuddin for criminal intimidation and causing annoyance via a telephone.

According to the FIR, the complainant stated that Shahabuddin would blackmail her when he was health minister during the Pakistan People’s Party tenure.

According to the complainant, the former minister’s ‘hooligans’ would call and threaten to kill her children if she rejected his advances.

Investigation Officer Arshad Ali told The Express Tribune that the complainant has not yet produced any proof to substantiate her claims. He said that she did not inform the police about the phone number on which she had received the threatening calls.

Ali further said police had asked the complainant to present proof against the former minister before they registered the FIR, and instead of doing so, she had gone to the court instead.

Shahabuddin was PPP South Punjab president before resigning from the post in January. He is also an accused in the ephedrine case, pending in a Rawalpindi court.

Repeated attempts were made to contact Shahabuddin, but he was not available for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2015.