Punjab law minister Sanaullah Accused

The MQM, of course, is not the only party with skeletons in their closet, but in the case of the PML-N, the skeletons are running out without law enforcement even trying to look for them. About three months after regaining the Punjab law minister’s portfolio after being sacked for the Model Town murders, Rana Sanaullah is entangled in yet another controversy. This time around, a senior leader from his own party has accused him of ‘killing 20 people’.

Chaudhry Sher Ali, father of State Minister of Water and Power Abid Sher Ali, said a man in custody had told police that he had killed 20 people at the behest of an SHO patronised by the law minister. The hit-list also allegedly included Provincial Assembly Members (MPA) Malik Nawaz, Mian Muhammad Tahir Jameel, Irfan Manan, Chaudhry Sher Ali and his Minister son.

Sanaullah in response had said that Ali’s allegations were “nothing but a bundle of lies.” One wonders when the politics of the party will move beyond intimidation and bribery.

The fact is that these are games of power, and public humiliation is an oft-used tactic by these politicians. They will probably solve it internally among themselves and the media will move on to other pressing problems. The police is a pawn in the hands of those in power - something that has been made abundantly clear in the case of the Kasur child abuse cases. It is unlikely that there will be any action or inquiry into Sanaullah’s dealings. If the accusations are true the police is probably complicit and so are many others from the PML-N.

Rana Sahib may or may not have been directly involved in killing of 20 people, as being alleged, but there is no doubt at all about one thing: he always seems to be on the wrong side of the law. His statement that the Kasur child abuse incidents were “baseless” was appalling. Why he is not being (at least) reprimanded by his party seniors? Is he so useful that despite all his misdeeds and mistakes, he cannot be made to practice restraint, in word and in deed? That he is the Punjab Law Minister in the first place is a liberty taken. That he should be so cavalier when giving statements in his position, is even more impetuous.