Rasool, nazim agree to wait before making formal complaint

* Doctors recommend case under Section 337/F1
* Nazim says he’ll produce buttons of Rasool’s waistcoat
* Rasool denies involvement in scuffle

By Shahnawaz Khan

LAHORE: No case has been registered after Union Council 107 Nazim Javed Iqbal’s younger brother was reportedly injured by Akhtar Rasool, the political assistant to the Punjab chief minister, and his guards because both sides have agreed to wait two days.

Sources close to both parties told Daily Times on Monday that the parties were trying to solve the matter politically because “influential” middlemen were persuading them to wrap up the issue. “Representatives of both sides have taken time from Superintendent of Police Bilal Siddique Kamiana in writing,” they claimed.

However, Mr Rasool denied his involvement in the incident in a press statement on Monday. He said the scuffle was going on when he reached the scene and that he informed police about the incident.

Mr Rasool said Ashraf Sindho and Malik Maqsood hosted an iftar dinner in his honour at Nawabpura in Wahdat Colony. “When I reached Nawabpura, locals informed me about the scuffle. I informed the emergency police and left the scene for another dinner at 35-K, Model Town,” he said. “Sharafat Ali is my official driver provided by the Punjab government and he was unarmed and no security guard was with me,” Mr Rasool claimed.

Mr Iqbal told Daily Times that Mr Rasool “lied” in his statement and he was one of those who beat up his brother. He said Mr Rasool asked him for two days to resolve the matter while sitting in Mr Kamiana’s office and asked him to play his role as a nazim, not as an elder brother. “One of our common friends, Haji Baqir, was also present on the occasion,” Mr Iqbal said.

He said Mr Rasool had planned the scuffle and directed his supporters. “The hosts of the Iftar dinner had also invited me but I declined in writing, saying I could not attend a party to which Mr Rasool was also invited because he has been rejected by the people,” he said, adding Mr Rasool tried to take revenge thinking it was his “humiliation”.

“I didn’t think to humiliate him. I refused the dinner because this was a matter of principle,” Mr Iqbal said.

He said he would produce the buttons of Mr Rasool’s waistcoat if he continuously denied his participation in the scuffle. “Many others who witnessed the scuffle have preserved torn pieces of his waistcoat,” he said, adding Mr Rasool also swore on the Quran that he would provide the accused. “Mr Rasool should remember that I saved him from an angry mob that was beating him with shoes,” the nazim said. Doctors have recommended the police register a case under sections 337/A1 and 337/F1 in the medical report of the injured Zahid Iqbal. A case under 337/F1 is a non bailable offence.

Wahdat Colony Station House Officer Kamran Zaman told Daily Times that he had a copy of the statements by both parties in which they agreed on waiting two days before registering a case. SP Kamiana was unavailable for comment.

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