LAHOREe, Aug 12:
Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam is among over 300 Opposition PML-N leaders and workers who were booked by Lahore police on Wednesday for hooliganism and attacking law enforcement officers.
About 58 workers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were arrested and sent to jail for 14 days by a sessions court of Lahore.
Maryam, her husband Capt (Retired) Mohammad Safdar, and 35 lawmakers and senators of the Opposition party are among over 300 leaders and workers booked under different sections of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Violence erupted outside the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) office in Lahore on Tuesday as heavy police contingents and workers of the PML-N confronted each other shortly after the arrival of Maryam there to record her statement in a land acquisition case.
Several PML-N workers, cops and NAB officials suffered injuries during the clash. The anti-graft watchdog had summoned Maryam to record a statement in the investigation into the illegal acquisition of 3,500-kanal of land in Raiwind by her, her father, uncle Shahbaz Sharif and grandmother Shamim Akhtar.
The PML-N leader and workers were booked on the NAB complaint. In its statement on the incident, NAB said Maryam had been summoned in a “personal capacity” to record her statement but instead of appearing, “she displayed hooliganism in an organised manner through PML-N workers by pelting stones and creating disorder”. (PTI)
“Such an attitude has been seen against a constitutional and national institution for the first time in 20 years in which not only windows of the building were broken by throwing stones but employees were also injured,” the Dawn quoted the statement as saying.
Later, the accountability bureau filed an application for registering a case against Maryam and other senior party leaders at the Chuhang Police Station.
PML-N information secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb said the Chuhang police were not entertaining their complaint regarding registration of an FIR against Prime Minister Imran Khan, NAB chairman Javed Iqbal, Prime Minister’s adviser Shahzad Akbar and the Punjab government for “making an attempt on the life of Maryam Nawaz” by attacking her car.
She said the police attacked the PML-N workers at the behest of those named in the application.
“We will move the Lahore High Court (LHC) for the registration of FIR if the police do not file it. Had I not been in a bullet-proof car there could have been a loss of life. There was an organised conspiracy behind calling me to the NAB office. They wanted to cause harm to me,” Maryam said.
She also posted the video of her damaged car on her Twitter account on Wednesday, saying it was attacked from all sides.
Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat claimed that PML-N party workers threw stones to put pressure on the anti-graft watchdog, adding that it was not “appropriate” for Maryam to say that she was the one who was targeted when video footage showed the opposite.
“Action will be taken against those who can be identified through video footage,” the minister told Geo News.
Pakistan Peoples Party Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari took to Twitter to denounce the incident. “Condemn the unnecessary use of force, teargas and stone-pelting on Maryam Nawaz and her party workers by police in Lahore today,” he tweeted.
Earlier this month, NAB had issued a call notice to Maryam asking her to appear before a combined investigation team on August 11 and bring details of 1,400 kanals she allegedly acquired in Raiwind in 2013 in violation of rules/law.
“Provide details of the use of the land, whether it is being used for agriculture cultivation or for any other commercial activity,” NAB said. (PTI)
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