Poor precedent: MPA accused of assaulting SNPGL team

He denied involvement in the incident.

FAISALABAD:

Three workers of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) were abused, beaten and detained by a provincial assembly member and his men during a campaign to check gas theft in Samundri, a letter sent by SNGPL Faisalabad General Manager Ajmad Mumtaz to SNGPL Lahore Distribution Senior General Manager Sohail Gulzar says.

The letter, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, was also sent to Faisalabad city police officer and the DCO on April 16.

Mumtaz says a team led by Senior Associate Engineer Jameel Ahmad was checking illegal gas connections in Ravi Mohallah in Samundri on April 14, when MPA Rao Kashif Rahim stopped them.

Mumtaz says the MPA abused the team and some of his men beat the SNPGL workers with sticks. They also forced them into a rooster squat and made them apologise for checking and detaching illegal gas connections in Samundri.

The letter says the employees were released after the MPA had obtained photo copies of their CNICs and their thumb impressions on plain paper.

“If action is not taken over the incident, it will set a poor precedent,” the letter says. “Such incidents will only lead to failure of the campaign against gas theft.”

Talking to The Express Tribune, Mumtaz said the MPA’s brother and MNA Talal Chaudhary had contacted him for a meeting on Monday to resolve the issue.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Raheem said the story had been concocted to defame him.

“I was not in Samundri on the day mentioned in the letter,” he said. He said the incident involved residents of the area and the SNGPL staff. “I was in Lahore at the time. This can be verified.”

He said he was returning from Mamu Kanjan when he had learned that a complaint had been moved against him.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th, 2015.