Ziaullah Afridi. PHOTO: SAMEER RAZIQ/EXPRESS
It seems as soon as former minister for mines and mineral development Ziaullah Afridi was informed on Wednesday night that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly has issued directives to allow him in, he had chosen the battles he aimed to fight on Thursday.
Ziaullah walked into the legislature, content with the interim relief after months of hardships behind bars. While hundreds of his supporters rejoiced outside the building, Ziaullah narrated the entire ordeal he went through ever since he was handcuffed on July 9 and criticised Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, IGP Nasir Khan Durrani and several others. Opposition members thumped desks to welcome him as he wore a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf cap and greeted lawmakers. “You have the powers to issue my production orders. You may be in my boots and face what I am confronting one day,” he told Speaker Asad Qaiser. Ziaullah said he is not a criminal and has only been accused. “My voters have the right to know the truth,” he said. “I was forcibly discharged from the hospital. Doctors said Shahram Tarakai wanted it so. The Ehtesab law was amended to trap me.”
Narrating the story of his arrest, Ziaullah said on the first day in jail, an investigation officer took a picture of his that went viral on social media. “Nothing was done to the other 30 accused.” He said he has been trying to meet Ehtesab Commission chairman since the day he was arrested. “Tarakai’s relative Afsar Khan easily made it to the chairman’s office. I have 20 questions for an important person. I want commission chairman Hamid Khan to present the answers before the media and all will be clear.”
He urged party supremo Imran Khan to call a core committee meeting where he, in the presence of Peshawar Town-I councillors and the media, will defend his case. “If I fail at convincing the attendees, I will pack up and leave the assembly.”
Hitting back at the charges levelled against him, Ziaullah said there are no complaints from any part of the country except Khattak’s hometown Nowshera. “We raided an illegal laterite mine in Mamakhel and registered an FIR in March 2014 but no action was taken,” he said, adding the mine’s leaseholder has the CM’s support. “We have registered 97 FIRs in that area and I have a copy of each.”
Ziaullah said all illegal mining criminals hail from Khattak’s constituency. “The dummy IGP is not taking any action.” Referring to the Tangi chromite mining case, the lawmaker said the mine is run by Khattak’s neighbours and he is helpless. Talking about the third case of Abbottabad phosphate mining, he said, “The mine’s lease was granted during the previous government.”
He said no one is willing to talk about the cement industry yet he unearthed illegal mining projects worth millions of rupees. “We registered 714 FIRs in the last 24 months. How many criminals were arrested?”
Awami National Party’s Sardar Hussain Babak and Minister for Public Health Engineering Shah Farman sang in unison that accountability is essential but political victimisation should not be tolerated. “The IGP said the police have been depoliticised. You will have to answer these questions Mr Durrani,” he said. Ziaullah’s children were also present at the assembly session.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 11th, 2015.
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