As a senior official refused to obey the alleged illegal orders of Sindh Minister for Local Government Agha Siraj Durrani, the minister along with his armed guards, beat the officer up, leaving him seriously injured in his office.
Visitors and officials of the Sindh Secretariat, the provincial hub of the bureaucracy, were shocked when the armed guards, led by Durrani, reached the Local Government Department at 1pm where they were welcomed by Local Government Secretary Ali Ahmed Lund.
Durrani’s armed guards then forcibly entered into the office of Sindh Local Government Board Secretary Shaukat Jokhio, a grade-18 officer, witnesses told Pakistan Today on Monday.
“The minister’s armed guards dragged Jokhio out of his office and started beating him in front of the elected representatives belonging to the ruling PPP. Then minister slapped him twice as Lund stood there as a silent spectator,” they added.
The witnesses said after Durrani and his armed guards left the building, the bystanders and employees of the Local Government Department took the injured officer to a nearby private hospital for treatment.
Moreover, the sources in the department told Pakistan Today that Durrani’s private secretary, known as Dholoo, had threatened Jokhio on Friday, asking him to endorse at least 700 appointment orders distributed recently by the minister amongst party workers.
Jokhio reportedly refused to sign the endorsement as the orders were issued in the period in which a ban had been imposed by the Election Commission of Pakistan on such orders.
Pakistan Today repeatedly tried to contact the minister and the local government secretary to seek their official versions, but they could not be reached.