MULTAN: Former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Sunday ex-deputy secretary PM House was brutally tortured to make him approver against him (Gilani) in cases related to the Trade and Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP).

Speaking to the media, he alleged that Zubair Ahmed was tortured to extract allegations against him a couple of weeks ago and still “there is nothing in the challan submitted to court.” The allegations were baseless and had no legal validity as a statement recorded before a magistrate or any judge had legal value, he argued.

He said his name was not mentioned in the challan submitted to court and when these cases were lodged there was no nominated accused. “I remained imprisoned for 10 years in the cases lodged by Saifur Rehman but I was acquitted by courts,” he said.

He said besides pursuing cases against him, the government should also take steps for the recovery of his son Ali Haider Gilani as “protecting the lives of the citizens is the responsibility of the government.”

“They can lodge as many cases as they want but should also fulfill their responsibility for the safe recovery of my son,” he demanded.

He said the Law and Justice Division had rejected the idea of creating two provinces of Bahawalpur and Seraiki when the recommendation of the commission constituted by the federal government was submitted there. “After the Punjab Assembly approved the resolution of creating two provinces, the commission was constituted and the case was sent to the Law and Justice Division that said creation of two provinces was not viable,” he said.

He said as per Constitution each federating unit should have representation in the Senate and each unit has 22 senators while it’s not possible for Bahawalpur province to meet the requirement. “At least 44 MPAs are required to nominate a senator and creation of seats for Bahawalpur is not possible,” he said.

He said the Punjab Assembly passed a resolution in favour of two provinces and now the ruling party should come forward to fulfill its promise (of creating two provinces) and the PPP would support the move.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2015

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