LAHORE: Punjab information minister Fayazul Hasan Chohan on Sunday warned against the misuse of police resources, saying that if the claims made by PML-N workers to police turn up false, cases will be registered against those responsible.
Chohan said that cases under sections 25, 26, 27 and 28-D of the Pakistan Penal Code will be filed. “Both parties [to the dispute] made calls to police helpline 15 and they have been recorded.”
He said both sides “are looking to run and we won’t let that happen.”
The information minister said that the police are investigating the incident under the leadership of the assistant sub-inspector of police.
His warning comes as news of a mysterious incident surfaced yesterday from which PML-N worker Tallal Chaudry is said to have come away with a fractured arm.
In a video aired by television channels, Chaudry can be seen complaining to police of a broken arm. He tells police his phone was snatched away and if they recover it, “the truth will be revealed”.
Chaudry, upon being probed for more information, says that he had been called over in connection with “party reorganisation”, without disclosing whose residence he is at.
According to reporters, when police arrived at the residence, friends and family of a woman lawmaker from PML-N were standing there along with Chaudry and the party’s district president Mian Qasim.
Chaudry claimed he was beaten up after being called to the location. On the contrary, the woman’s side maintained that the PML-N leader tried to forcefully enter her residence. Both parties subsequently disbursed after reaching an agreement.
Chohan, addressing the incident on Sunday in a media briefing in Rawalpindi, claimed that a rebellion was growing within the PML-N and had accelerated Saturday.
“Tallal Chaudry’s act of harassment has caused the heads of PML-N members to hang in shame,” he said, adding: “He damaged the PML-N’s reputation but made his leadership proud.”
“This is the first case of (so-called) organisational restructuring that took place at 2 or 3am.
“Organisational restructuring takes place in the light of day and not at night […] if such activities take place in the night it will only lead to a broken arm,” Chohan went on to say.
The minister said people were misguided by the PML-N and Chaudry and that the “whole Pakistani nation knows the truth about him”.
Four years ago, Tallal Chaudry held a big rally on the Panama Paper’s case, where he used vulgar language against Imran Khan and was lauded for doing so.
“Tallal Chaudry used to speak negatively about the private lives of his opponents during the Panama era,” the PTI’s lawmaker in Punjab added.
He said the government of Punjab has formed a committee of Faisalabad police personnel to investigate the incident. Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, he added, has decided that cases of harassment of women would now be looked into by the provincial information ministry.
