LAHORE – Khawaja Saad Rafique, the former railways’ minister and a firebrand leader of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, allegedly detained a group of young students who dared to throw a barrage of questions at the politician regarding the looming water crisis.
Saad was about to start his speech at a corner meeting in Chungi Amar Sadhu locality of the Lahore when a student associated with Haqooqe Khalq Movement (HKM) asked him what he had done to address the rampant water crisis in the city.
Instead of answering the question, the former lawmaker ordered the audience to shut down the mobile phones and stop video recording.
What exercabated the situation was that the student Haider Ali Butt, who asked the question, was allegedly detained by the leader for about half an hour and was threatened to be beaten up, as per the statement shared by the student on social media.
https://twitter.com/HaiderSalma_/status/1011754366250909696?s=19
https://twitter.com/HaiderSalma_/status/1012109449073479682
Butt had merely asked the politician to outline his party’s plan to address the water crisis in Pakistan and the absence of clean drinking water in his constituency, however, he allegedly faced the wrath of the top PML-N leader.
Besides the threats, the student claimed that many female volunteers of the organization -which strives to establish links between voters and their representatives – were asked to leave the gathering.
Rafique is not the first politician to face the tough questions by the constituents. The electioneering seems to be very difficult for the political fraternity this time as many of the candidates are being asked about their performances by the public.
Earlier, Sardar Jamal Leghari, Saleem Jan Mazari and Sohail Anwar Siyal have also been stopped mid-way by the voters for just to inquire about their performance during their tenures as legislators.
