LAHORE, June 5: The son of main accused of the Haris Steel Mills case has alleged political victimisation at the hands of the Punjab government.

At a press conference here on Sunday, Sheikh Haris Afzal, the son of Sheikh Afzal, accused the Punjab government of pressurising them into becoming approvers against the Chaudhryies of Gujrat. He said his family was being penalised for not testifying against federal minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and NICL case accused Moonis Elahi.

Claiming that they had repaid 80 per cent of the Bank of Punjab (BoP) loan, he said if his family was not to repay the loan amount, it would not have got it rescheduled.He denied offering any bribe to former federal law minister, Babar Awan, except for payment of Rs5 million as professional fee.

He claimed that statements against Awan, former attorney-general Malik Qayyum and BoP president Hamesh Khan were given under the pressure of Punjab advocate-general Khawaja Haris.

He urged the federal government to provide them protection, alleging that the advocate-general had been causing harassment to his family for the last three years.

“We want to repay the debt to Bank of Punjab but the provincial government is creating hurdles,” he said.

Sheikh Haris said that they had repaid Rs5.51 billion out of total Rs6.15 billion owed by them.

Meanwhile, the Haris family’s counsel said that millions of rupees had been embezzled by selling the assets of his clients at cheaper prices.