PkMAP announces countrywide protest against 'raid' at Achakzai's house

• PkMAP general secretary says security guard is arrested.
• JUI-F's Hafiz Hamdullah says raid at house exposes puppets.
• Jan Achakzai says Quetta administration recovered govt lands.

QUETTA: Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) has announced to hold countrywide demonstrations on Monday (today) against the "raid" at the house of its chairman and presidential nominee, Mahmood Khan Achakzai.

Meanwhile, refuting the claims of the "raid", the district administration said it got a vacant government land vacated on Quetta’s Quarry road near Achakzai’s house.

PkMAP General Secretary Abdul Rahim Khan Ziaratwal said during the "raid" at Achakzai’s house a security guard was arrested. He said his party leader was punished for his address in the National Assembly, wherein he criticised the establishment.

Addressing a press conference along Achakzai in Islamabad, while apprising media about the approval of the PkMAP leader’s nomination papers for the post of president, PTI leader Ali Muhammad Khan said a raid was carried out last night at Achakzai’s house and the PTI condemned it.

He also said the nation stood with the army and the PTI wanted the country to run in accordance with the constitution.

The PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) on March 2 nominated the PKMAP chief Achakzai as their presidential nominee against Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, a joint candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and other political parties part of the coalition setup.

Achakzai won the National Assembly seat from the NA-266 constituency in Balochistan's Kila Abdullah-cum-Chaman in the February 8 general elections.

Condemning the raid, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Hafiz Hamdullah said the raid at an elderly politician’s house exposed the puppets. The sanctity of a house was violated during the raid, he said adding that it was against democratic norms to harass a family and raid a house.

Balochistan National Party President Akhtar Mengal also condemned the raid in a tweet on the social media platform, X. "Outraged by the raid on Mahmood Khan Achakzai's residence. Zero tolerance for truth is loud and clear. Strongly condemn," he wrote.

Former PTI leader Shireen Mazari hoped the parliament would not remain silent on the incident. 

Local administration denies raiding house

Quetta Deputy Commissioner Saad bin Asad said Achakzai had illegally occupied the government land by putting up walls. The Quetta DC confirmed that a person was arrested for pointing weapons at an assistant commissioner and interfering in a public affair. 

He said the arrested person laced with illegal weapons was guarding the land.

Former Balochistan caretaker information minister Jan Achakzai, in a hurriedly called press conference, denied the claims of a raid at the PkMAP chairman’s house saying the district administration of Quetta recovered a government land.

He said lands in the city’s outskirts were recovered and the campaign against illegal land occupation would continue in the future as well. The district administration took action on a landlord's complaint and got a plot vacated in front of the veteran politician’s house, he said.

“The revenue department has now been digitised in Balochistan. Action will also be taken against those whose land documents were tampered with. If there is any illegal building, it will also be demolished,” the former caretaker information minister warned.