PML-N lawmaker arrested on land-grabbing charges

• Anti-Corruption Establishment of Punjab books MNA Ashraf.
  
• Ashraf faces charges of illegally occupying state-owned land.
  
• PM claims arrest part of Imran Khan-ordered political witch-hunt.

LAHORE: The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) of Punjab Tuesday arrested Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Member National Assembly Chaudhry Mohammad Ashraf for illegally occupying state land.

In a statement today, the ACE said that Ashraf is a PML-N lawmaker elected from NA-148.

Ashraf faces accusations of encroaching on state-owned land by forging the land documents and records in connivance with the revenue officer (Patwari).

The anti-corruption department has registered a case against the lawmaker.

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.