FAISALABAD: MPAs of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and some other politicians have stepped up efforts to rescue their colleague involved in assault on policemen and are ‘pressuring’ the police to stop raids at his outhouse.

MPA Rana Shoaib Idrees and more than 50 of his henchmen were involved in thrashing policemen and ransacking a police station. The police on Saturday last registered a case under sections of Anti-Terrorism Act and PPC against them and arrested 30 of them.

Sources told Dawn on Wednesday that Rana Idrees’ colleagues had pledged to produce him before the police.

PML-N MNA Rana Afzal told this correspondent that many parliamentarians having association with the suspect desired that the police stop his humiliation by continuously raiding his outhouse and other places. He said the party leaders had asked the MPA to appear before the police as the issue had been defaming the party.

“I tried to contact Rana Idrees to advise him to join investigation rather than staying in hiding. His mobile phone is switched off,” he said. He said the confusion about the incident would be clear only after the police and the MPA recorded their statements.

Sources said the government after obtaining reports from agencies had directed the police to arrest the MPA. On the instructions of the government, the police nominated the MPA in the supplementary statement rather than FIR.

They said the MPA wanted to meet Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to clear his position. The CM had refused to see him and conveyed him to go through the process of investigation. Rana Afzal confirmed that the chief minister had refused to meet Rana Idrees.

A police officer said some parliamentarians and politicians had promised to produce the MPA on Wednesday but they did not go by their word. He said the police would arrest him as the government had clearly instructed them to do so.

PML-N city president Sheikh Ijaz Ahmad said the police were raiding the houses of parliamentarians and MPA Usman Kharal and Naeem Gill were the ‘victims’ of this strategy. He said Kharal and Gill were not nominated in any case and that why their families were being harassed.

City Police Officer Dr Haider Ashraf told Dawn that parliamentarians had been informed that investigation would be conducted on merit.

He said the inquiry committee comprising SSP Bilal Umar, who is also holding the charge of operations wing and Jaranwala SP Shahbaz Arif, had been constituted prior to registration of the case. Instead of remaining at large, he said, the MPA should join investigation to prove his innocence.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2014