Dasti claims his wife tortured in house raid, police deny allegations

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jamshaid Dasti has claimed that law enforcers broke into his house in Punjab’s Muzaffargarh in the wee hours of Sunday and manhandled his wife, as the party which he belongs to insists the state machinery is being used to intimidate them ahead of the February 8 elections.

In a short video clip posted on the social media platform X, Dasti, a four-time parliamentarian, claimed that personnel belonging to the counter-terrorism department (CTD) and intelligence agencies “brutalised my family members and kept them hostage for three hours”.

“My wife was manhandled and tortured,” the former parliamentarian said in the post, appealing Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa to take notice of the incident.

Dasti also claimed that the law enforcers acted “like thugs and criminals”. “They beat my children [...] my 10-month-old son kept crying,” the PTI leader said.

“Immense cruelty has been committed against me. The only sin that I’ve committed is support Imran Khan,” he lamented, telling the chief justice through his video message that “my mind isn’t functioning anymore [...] they are torturing me just because I will run in elections. I am ready to die, chief justice sahib”.

“My honour has been compromised. I could never imagine that a man like me [...] would face such cruelty,” he added.

Station House Office (SHO) Muzaffargarh Khurram Riaz, in a video statement, rejected Dasti’s claims, saying they were “baseless” and nothing more than “lies”.

“Neither was Jamshed Dasti’s house raided nor was his family manhandled,” the police officer said, noting that more than 40 cases have been registered against him and he was trying to portray a different scenario.

Riaz added that Dasti was trying to spread “fear and chaos” among the members of his community. The SHO added that Nazia Dasti, the politician’s wife, had submitted her nomination papers on Saturday before a returning officer. “During the filing of papers, she was neither harassed nor did she file a complaint.”