Dost Muhammad Mazari, a former deputy speaker of the provincial legislature, was detained on Saturday by Punjab’s Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) in connection with an alleged land encroachment case.
His cousin Shabab Mazari, who confirmed the arrest, claimed that the angry PTI MPA was detained as he was visiting his frail grandfather Balakh Sher Mazari at a private hospital.
Sardar Riaz Mehmood Khan Mazari, a PTI dissident member of the National Assembly who spoke to Geo News about the deputy speaker’s arrest, said: “My father Balakh Sher Mazari has been ill for 15 days, and Dost Muhammad Mazari came to visit my father in the hospital.”
The MNA disclosed that ACE officers arrived at the hospital to arrest Mazari without a warrant or first information report (FIR).
“Dost Mazari is being targeted in political vengeance,” Riaz Mazari said.
A day after the Lahore High Court criticised ACE Punjab for its recent measures against Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, Mazari was arrested.
The comments were made by the LHC’s Rawalpindi bench during the hearing of the minister’s lawsuit challenging the validity of the arrest warrants issued by ACE Punjab. Nadeem Sarwar, the director-general of ACE Punjab, was also present in court.
“Your institution has become a political tool. One [DG] comes and forms a case, another (DG) comes and finishes that case,” observed the court. It also slammed the official for obtaining Sanaullah’s arrest warrants by making a false statement.
