Daily Times

The Punjab police on Wednesday booked Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz and scores of party workers and leaders for attacking police and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials outside the bureau’s Lahore office a day earlier.

A violent clash had erupted between police and the PML-N supporters on Tuesday after Maryam Nawaz arrived for a hearing in a case pertaining to ‘illegal’ acquisition of land in Raiwind. Many people, including some officials, were injured and around 50 men were rounded up after police fired tear gas besides hurling back stones at the activists, with each side blaming the other for triggering the clash.

The FIR, which was filed by NAB’s Director of Security and Intelligence Mohammad Asghar at the Chung police station, stated that Maryam had been called to the bureau’s Lahore office in ‘personal capacity’. But instead of merely appearing for the hearing, the FIR alleged, she ‘incited PML-N workers at the behest of her husband Safdar Awan’. “The workers then started displaying thuggery – pelting stones and creating disorder.”

Besides Maryam and her husband, the FIR also named multiple PML-N leaders including Rana Sanaullah, Mirza Javed, Javed Latif, Mian Abdul Raouf and 184 other supporters. It also pointed to the involvement of another 300 unnamed workers who the security team ‘would identify from the pictures and video footage’. The FIR also identified different vehicles that came to the NAB office as part of Maryam’s caravan.

“This is the first time in NAB’s 20-year history that this level of horrendous attitude has been shown in which the day to day office operations of the organisation have been destroyed and the state’s work has been interfered with,” it said. “This evil act was done by Maryam Safdar and her husband Safdar Awan after proper planning and coordination with the PML-N workers. They also brought stones in their cars from Jati Umra,” the FIR stated, adding that MPA Mirza Javed and his son had also come to the NAB office with bags of stones in their car. The FIR also alleged that the workers had organised an ‘unlawful assembly on Maryam’s instigation’ and were told to disperse by the police. “The PML-N workers under their leadership’s guidance also pelted stones at the police officials,” it added.

The NAB official stated in the FIR that the movement of the accountability body’s employees and passers-by was ‘restricted’ and fear and chaos was created, adding that the building’s glass was also broken by throwing stones. It requested the police to ‘start action against the accused according to the law’.

Meanwhile, PML-N leader and husband of Maryam Nawaz, Capt (r) Safdar has filed an application at the Chohang Police Station in Lahore to register a case against Prime Minister Imran Khan, Shehzad Akbar, NAB chairman and 100 others.

Safdar in his plea stated that attempts were made to assassinate Maryam Nawaz at the behest of Imran Khan, Shehzad Akbar, NAB chairman and DG NAB Lahore. He said that seeing the seriousness of the situation, he drove away the vehicle to save her life. On the other hand, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said that if the police did not receive the application, a writ would be filed in the Lahore High Court.