Punjab government spokesman Senator Pervaiz Rasheed on Saturday rejected Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s allegations regarding Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ), saying the Punjab government had played its role in arresting Ishaq but the courts had set him free.
Rasheed said Malik Ishaq was arrested twice by the Punjab government – first in 1997 and the second time just a day ago. “Malik is levelling false allegations only for political purposes,” he said, adding that the interior minister should check the record and be aware that Malik Ishaq was sentenced a number of times by trial courts but was released by higher courts through appeals during the Musharraf era.
Rasheed said that Rehman Malik neither wrote a letter to Punjab government for arresting Ishaq nor provided any material on the basis of which Ishaq could have been arrested.
He said that it was an open secret that 11 arms licenses were issued to Malik Ishaq and two of his sons, Malik Usman and Malik Muhammad Haq Nawaz, who have connections with Sindh and Balochistan governments of PPP. Similarly, licenses of prohibited bores were also issued to Malik Ishaq by the federal government, added Rasheed. “The Punjab government never issued any license to Ishaq. The federal government was reminded repeatedly to stop issuance of prohibited bore licenses but our pleas went in vain,” he said.
Senator Rasheed said that instead of levelling allegations, Rehman Malik should explain why licenses in such a large number were issued by the Sindh and Balochistan governments to Malik Ishaq.
He said that following Ishaq’s arrest by the Punjab government led by Shahbaz Sharif in 1997, he had to spend 14 years in jail and was released due to weak prosecution in courts during Musharraf’s time. Involving Punjab government in this matter is an illogical and redundant activity and is far from the realities of the issue, he added.
Giving details of the licenses issued to Malik Ishaq, Rasheed said that the LJ leader was issued license No. 227/8 for weapon No. 973066 of 222 bore, license No. 226/9 for weapon No. 860760 of 223 bore and license No. 225 for weapon No. 887068 of .44 bore from Jacobabad by Sindh government and license No. 358 for weapon No. SA 6393 of 12 bore from Jaffarabad, Balochistan, and license No. 3158 for weapon No. 7034 of .222 bore by Balochistan government from Quetta. Malik Muhammad Usman, son of Malik Ishaq, was issued license No. 2192 for weapon No. 276376 of 12 bore and license No. 2193 for weapon No. 6192 of 30 bore by Balochistan government from Quetta while license No. 803 for weapon No. 45358 of 30 bore was issued to him from Jaffarabad, Balochistan. Similarly, Malik Haq Nawaz, son of Malik Ishaq, was issued license No. 2191 for weapon No. 276374 of 12 bore from Quetta, license No. 804 for weapon No. 31110014 of 30 bore from Jaffarabad and license No. 2190 for weapon No. 915312 of 30 bore from Quetta.
Courts let Ishaq loose, we didn’t: Rasheed
