PTI lawmaker’s assault victim casts doubts on justice system

The elderly man who was assaulted by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Dr Imran Ali Shah has cast doubts on the country’s criminal justice system, wondering if he would have been able to prove that he was manhandled, had he taken the lawmaker to court.

Talking to the media outside his residence late on Tuesday night, Dawood Chauhan said he had accepted Dr Shah’s apology after PTI leaders Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Najeeb Haroon and Imran Ismail intervened to resolve the matter.

In a video that went viral on social media on Independence Day, Chauhan, a senior additional director of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), was seen being assaulted by the MPA on Stadium Road.

Flanked by three armed guards, Dr Shah slapped the CAA official multiple times before leaving in his SUV followed by a personnel carrier. “You know Pakistan and this society better than me,” Chauhan told the journalist who asked him if he was going to file a police complaint.

“Which court would punish him? What will I be able to prove and what not? I have neither money nor nerve [to pursue this case]. I am just a salaried person.”

He, however, thanked the person who made the video of the incident and put it on social media. The incident caused outrage, with people demanding that the PTI take action against the MPA. Later in the evening, the party issued a show-cause notice to the legislator asking him to present his version of his “unacceptable” actions within 24 hours.  

Contradictions

Chauhan said he was driving towards the Aga Khan University Hospital with his grandchildren when his car “kissed” the bumper of the vehicle in front of his amid a traffic jam.

The CAA official claimed that when the driver of the other vehicle saw that no damage was done, he advised him to be careful and drove away, but Dr Shah emerged on the scene and started an altercation.

Another video shows Dr Shah, an orthopaedic surgeon and the medical director of the AO Clinic, claiming that Chauhan was repeatedly hitting the rear bumper of the other vehicle. The MPA said the elderly man swore at and pushed him when he asked him to apologise to the other driver. A video uploaded by the other driver, who was identified by the Fixit Facebook page as Rehan Ahmed, the man agreed with Dr Shah’s version of the incident and said Chauhan swore at him and the MPA.  

Resolution

The matter was resolved after PTI Karachi President Naqvi took Dr Shah to Chauhan’s house, where the MPA offered an unconditional apology that was accepted. The CAA official said Naqvi and Haroon were his friends from NED University and were sorry for their party colleague’s behaviour. “I just couldn’t say anything before them and thus pardoned the man.”