Ex-LG candidate commits suicide after alleged police torture

They said police had picked up Faizan, the son of Chan Muhammad and Noman’s brother, from Sector I of Khalabat Township in connection with a robbery case.

Locals shared a grab from CCTV footage which helped in identifying the robbers. However, Faizan managed to escape from their custody. Little did he know his actions would end up in fatal consequences not for him, but for Noman.

Collective responsibility?

In a classic case of guilt by association, police subsequently arrested 28-year-old Noman, a former candidate for a youth councillor seat. The law enforcers allegedly humiliated and tortured him during unrecorded detention for a couple of hours.

Noman, who worked on a poultry farm, was released on the request of a local influential figure. However, when he returned from work on Monday afternoon, the police reportedly raided his residence once again and ransacked the premises without a search warrant. The man was taken into custody for the second time and was subjected to torture yet again, sources added.

He was set free in the evening on the condition that he would turn Faizan in. While heading home after yet another humiliating ordeal, Noman met his friends and shared the inhumane treatment meted out by the police. He told his friends that he has lost purpose in life and is left with no choice
but to kill himself.

Ending it all

An hour later, he brought home a poisonous substance and consumed it in his room. The family shifted him to the Women and Children Hospital from where the doctors referred him to Ayub Medical Complex, Abbottabad. However, he died on the way.

Family members and locals took the body back to Haripur where they protested by placing the body in the middle of GT Road and demanded the registration of an FIR against Khalabat Township SHO. After half an hour, protesters dispersed when district naib nazim Agha Shabir assured them of an enquiry. When approached for comments, Khalabat Township police denied torturing Noman and added the raid was carried out to hunt down Faizan. They confirmed the latter was wanted in a robbery case. Police claimed Noman misbehaved at the residence and was briefly taken into custody before being released.

Separate incident

Earlier this week, three teenage boys from Aslam Colony in Haripur accused City police of unrecorded detention and torture for five days. The complainant, Ali Raza, his brother Qaisar and a neighbour Waseem, lodged the complaint with a judicial magistrate, seeking medical examination and registration of a case. However, the magistrate rejected the complaint. The three men have now moved the court of a district and sessions judge in Haripur.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 23^rd, 2015.

Poll rigging: PTI’s Haripur MNA suspended

ABBOTABAD: The Election Tribunal Abbottabad suspended Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNA Dr Raja Amir Zaman’s assembly membership on charges of rigging on Tuesday and ordered re-elections on seven polling stations of NA-19 Haripur.
Dr Zaman defeated Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Ayub Gohar in the general elections, who later challenged the results. Dr Zaman emerged as the winner after the recount on all 437 stations of the constituency.
Ayub, however, moved the Supreme Court and sought a re-election. According to his petition, several polling bags did not have relevant voters list or counterfoils of ballot papers; indicative of rigging.
The apex court referred the case to the election tribunal which then suspended Dr Zaman’s membership and ordered a re-election on polling stations Alloli, Mamrial, Bagra Number 2, Kalinjar, Ghazi Hamlet and two polling stations of Khalabat Township.
Dr Zaman had defeated Ayub from these polling stations with a heavy margin.
The tribunal headed by Ziauddin Khattak also dismissed a petition filed by Shahid Amin Khan, a former union nazim, who sought Dr Zaman’s disqualification on the basis of concealment of assets and non-payment of taxes.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2014.

An open letter to Imran Khan

HARIPUR: We, the students and faculty members of Post-Graduate Government College, Haripur, would like to bring to the attention of the PTI chief, Imran Khan, that the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa seems to have started a crackdown on progressive educationists. In addition, the gains made through reforms in curricula and introduction of co-education at the district level colleges are also at risk. Our college is the first case in this regard. We would like to give a brief summary of developments that took place in the college over the last three years, which are now at risk.
Pioneering reforms were introduced in the college, including the introduction of 11 new disciplines, such as information technology, electronics, zoology, political science, physics, economics, statistics, English, mathematics, and gender studies. Also, a four-year bachelor’s programme was also introduced, along with co-education (over 60 per cent of the student body consists of females). The faculty for these disciplines was developed and special efforts were made to enrol female students. In addition, art, music and sports societies were established to mentor and nurture students’ creative abilities.
Within two months of formation of the PTI government in the province, the college principal, who pioneered these reforms, was transferred and Mr Mumtaz Khan replaced him, who is a nominee of Mr Yousaf Ayub Khan, a PTI minister from Haripur. Mr Khan is trying to rollback these reforms through the following actions: 1) barring female faculty members from entering the college building without any reason; 2) expulsion of female staff and students from the college hostel; and 3) denial of admission to new students at the Malala Centre of Excellence in Gender Studies.
We understand that the PTI believes in gender equality and supports an educational policy that produces scholars and professionals to deal with this grave issue. We believe that the PTI is not against equal education opportunities for girls and boys, and co-education. We also understand that the PTI believes in promoting scientific, technological and social advancement through education. With this understanding, we strongly oppose the abovementioned regressive actions and demand the following: 1) complete support to the Malala Centre of Excellence in Gender Studies and continuation of co-education in the college; 2) continuing with the residing female staff and students in the college accommodation; 3) regularisation of all contractual staff recruited for teaching in the new disciplines; and 4) immediate cancellation of transfer of the previous college principal, Professor Shah Jahan, and Professor Tariq Chughtai, director academic enhancement programme, who introduced the abovementioned reforms.
We strongly urge that these efforts that were three years in the making should not go down the drain and the future of students of the college should be protected.
Students and faculty,
Post-Graduate Government College 
Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2013.

Hanging in the balance: Three PTI lawmakers from Haripur face disqualification

Dr Raja Amer Zaman, scion of the Rajgan family in Khanpur, was elected on a PTI ticket from NA-19 Haripur after defeating Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) candidate and former minister of state for finance Omer Ayub Khan. Omer is the grandson of former military ruler Ayub Khan and was narrowly defeated by Zaman with a margin of just 1,400 votes.
However, Omer challenged the results and alleged rigging, accusing Zaman of conspiring with the election staff at some polling stations. The lawmaker denied the allegations and asked Omer to accept the election results.
Complying with his complaint, the election commission, nevertheless, ordered a recount which went on for over a week. This time, the vote count for Zaman increased. Omar remained resilient and approached the election tribunal, which sought voting records on August 22.
Yusuf Ayub Khan, another PTI legislator and Omar’s cousin, won from PK-50 after defeating former Awami National Party (ANP) MPA and later PML-N candidate Qazi Muhammad Asad. Yusuf also narrowly won with a margin of just over 2,000 votes.
Asad, who defeated Yusuf Ayub in the 2002 general elections and later his brother Arshad Ayub in 2008 polls, challenged Yusuf’s Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree and alleged it was counterfeit.
Asad then approached the election tribunal against Yusuf, who is currently serving as the provincial Minister for Communications & Works. The tribunal has summoned Yusuf to present himself in person on August 27 when the fate of his seat will be decided.
PTI’s Faisal Zaman – also known as ‘Jahazon Wala’ – was elected from PK-52 Haripur after defeating PML-N’s provincial president and former chief minister Pir Sabir Shah. Pir Sabir has also challenged the legitimacy of Zaman’s BA degree on the basis of which he had won the 2002 election on a Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) ticket.
Zaman claimed he obtained his degree from the University of Nigeria, where his company has been doing business for decades. Shah alleged Zaman’s degree was bogus and the election tribunal also termed it suspicious, after which it referred the matter to District and Sessions Judge Haripur for investigation. Proceedings on the case are likely to start within a few weeks.
Defeated candidates appear to be optimistic about winning the appeals in the hope of giving their constituencies another opportunity to vote in the by-polls, which they believe will be held in the upcoming month in Haripur if the lawmakers are disqualified. The challengers have also started campaigning.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2013

ہر ی پور سےرکن صوبائی اسمبلی یوسف ایوب کی ڈگری جعلی قرار،ذرائع
— Geo News Urdu (@geonews_urdu) August 20, 2013