Lahore: A Pakistani senator, with close links to the country’s military establishment, Saturday demanded the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar after a relative of his was arrested in a case concerning the abduction and gangrape of two foreigners here.
Senator Faisal Vawda also accused the federal government and the provincial government in Punjab of protecting the minister’s relative in the high-profile case.
Two women – one from the Netherlands and the other from Venezuela – were allegedly abducted by a group of men June 29 and gangraped in Lahore.
The police have arrested four men, while one is absconding. They were sent to five-day police custody by a Lahore court Friday. One of the arrested men – Muhammad Raza Dar was identified as the prime suspect in the case.
Police sources said Raza Dar is Ishaq Dar’s grandson.
During the investigation, police have said, it emerged that Raza Dar met the two women in Singapore last year, and they were partners in a cryptocurrency venture. He arranged business visas for them for their visit to Pakistan.
Vawda on Saturday said Pakistan is being run like a family corporation, as he highlighted the gangrape incident and described the prime suspect as the alleged grandson of Ishaq Dar, who is also the foreign minister.
He (Raza Dar) was arrested only after the intervention of the relevant foreign embassy. After such serious allegations, how can Ishaq Dar continue to represent Pakistan before the world as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Vawda said in a post on X.
If there is any concern for Pakistan and its international image, Ishaq Dar should resign immediately, he said.
Vawda, widely seen as a mouthpiece of the Pakistani military establishment, was elected as Senator on the vote of both Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which are coalition partners in the federal government. He, however, does not represent any political party.
Vawda further said Saturday, Attempts are being made to limit the case to extortion rather than rape, while arrangements are underway to send the foreign victims back to their country as quickly as possible.
He also drew the attention of the Pakistani people to how the government and the ruling party politicians have not yet issued any statement condemning the incident.
