The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Punjab arrested on Tuesday Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Chaudhary Muhammad Ashraf for alleged involvement in land grabbing.
The ACE spokesperson confirmed the arrest, saying that Ashraf is facing charges of land grabbing related to over 157 acres of state land.
He said that Ashraf has been accused of encroaching on state land by forgery.
ACE Punjab, in a statement today, said that Ashraf is a PML-N lawmaker elected from NA-148. He was arrested after a case was registered against him.
The anti-corruption department has registered a case after the inquiry, it said.
The document revealed that Ashraf fraudulently faked the ownership document (gardawari) of the state-owned land of over 150 canals in Chak no 6-R/90 of Sahiwal.
Gardawari is a legal revenue department document used in Pakistan that specifies land and crop details.
According to details, MNA Ashraf had the land allotted in the name of one Sharif Ahmed Hashmi, who doesn't exist, by bribing revenue staff and colony clerk and has been cultivating crops on it for a long time without paying anything to the government.
The document further says that the accused has been dealing losses worth millions of rupees to the national kitty with impunity and must be brought to justice.
PM Shehbaz Sharif condemns MNA’s arrest
Terming MNA Chaudhry Ashraf’s arrest as a part of the Punjab coalition government’s political witch-hunt, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Tuesday condemned the move in the strongest of words.
PM Shehbaz accused PTI Chairman Imran Khan of giving orders to use the anti-corruption department against political rivals.
“The PTI is still pursuing the negative policy of political harassment. You have seen it in the last four years,” the PM said adding that such stances had harmed the country irrevocably.
He said after setting National Accountability Board (NAB) on their political opponents, the PTI was now using the ACE as a tool for harassing them (government and allies) was highly deplorable.
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