PML-N says it will seek legal action against Punjab govt

The PML-N on Sunday said that it will seek legal action against the Punjab government, in the wake of demolitions of structures made on what the government says is illegally occupied land.

A press conference was held in Lahore by party members Saad Rafique, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Ataullah Tarar to protest in particular the razing of the Khokhar brothers' residence by the Lahore Development Authority.

Khawaja Saad Rafique said that action must be taken against the District Superintendent of Police under whose watch the operation took place.

He said that with by-polls around the corner, the government is "trying to scare the Opposition".

Rafique said that to that end, the office of an "approved scheme" in Sialkot was demolished.

The PML-N leader said that "lists were being prepared" and the government was "targeting" the party's leaders in particular and adding their names to those that must be probed for corruption.

"This idea of corruption will no longer sell," he said, adding that "whoever commits acts of oppression will meet a befitting fate".

Govt took back 8,085 acres of land from 36 PML-N members, Shahzad Akbar claims

Rafique said that the government wishes to "eradicate all its opponents", but vowed that they will "never be eliminated".

Meanwhile, former speaker of the National Assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that Transparency International, to whom the prime minister would often refer to when speaking of his political opponents, has now found Pakistan to be suffering from the "worst corruption" in the current government's tenure.

He said the prime minister will have to answer for the Ferozewala land, and where the millions of rupees came from that were spent on Zaman Park.

Ataullah Tarar, for his part, announced that the party will approach the court against the government's actions. He said that when the younger brother of the premier's adviser on accountability, Shahzad Akbar, "went to occupy land, four officers were changed".

"The qabza (land grabbing) mafia's roots can be traced back to your party," Tarar said, adding: "We demand that Shahzad Akbar's brother, Murad Akbar also be held accountable."

He further criticised the frequent change of people appointed to the post of Inspector General of Police for Punjab, "by a party that claims it is working to make the police be a non-political entity".