Rabbani condemns manhandling of Qureshi by police

ISLAMABAD: Former Senate chairman Senator Mian Raza Rabbani condemned the incident of manhandling of ex-foreign minister and Vice Chairman PTI Shah Mehmood Qureshi by the police and demanded that the officers responsible for such actions against unarmed civilians be removed from service, to set an example.

“Regardless of the fact that he is a politician and former foreign minister, above all he is a citizen of Pakistan, and deserves the highest degree of respect,” he said in a statement on Thursday.

Rabbani said the police treat citizens as if they are enemies of the state. “The manner in which Shah Mehmood Qureshi was bundled into the police van was despicable,” he said.

The former Senate chairman said it appears that the civil servants and police have not shed the colonial mindset of governance and treat citizens as if they have to be humiliated.

He said such another incident was witnessed in Islamabad two days ago, when peaceful Baloch protesters, men and women were brutally assaulted and arrested. “Such incidents with citizens are a normal occurrence in smaller towns and rural areas,” he said.