Former council member asks for case to be registered against Rahman. STOCK IMAGE
GILGIT: A Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader accused Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Hafeezur Rahman of inciting violence against the former’s party and asked the regional administration to initiate legal proceedings.
“We are being targeted everywhere at the behest of the chief minister,” alleged Advocate Amjad Hussain, a former G-B Council member.
“The latest incidents are testimony to my assertion. The administration should take notice of it and register a case against Rahman,” he told The Express Tribune on Wednesday. He threatened to approach a court of law if an FIR was not lodged.
Hussain was referring to an incident in which workers of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (which Rahman belongs to) and PPP exchanged gunshots some days ago in Gilgit. Unsurprisingly, both parties blamed each other for the violence.
“There is no justification for opening fire on our workers. This is an open breach of law,” said Hussain who contested the recent polls from G-BLA1 (Gilgit) and lost to PML-N’s Jafarullah. The latter is now deputy speaker of the G-B Legislative Assembly. Hussain also alleged organised rigging was responsible for his defeat.
Hussain said houses of 10 PPP leaders were demolished in Chilas for crimes they never committed and yet the media remained silent. “Why were the houses of our leaders in Chilas bulldozed and why aren’t they being released from jail?” He asked Rahman to act like a chief minister and not the leader of a particular locality.
The PML-N, however, denied the allegation. “There is no role of the chief minister in this untoward incident,” said Spokesperson Farooq Mir.
Meanwhile, Gilgit police chief Zafar Iqbal took serious notice of the clash and ordered the arrest of the culprits. According to a police spokesman, 13 people were involved in the crime and were arrested, while cases were filed against them under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 2nd, 2015.
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