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Thursday, March 28, 2024

CIA team detains Mufti Azizur Rehman, sons in Mianwali after 3-day manhunt

LAHORE: Cleric Mufti Azizur Rehman, who was earlier charged with sexually abusing a seminary student, has been arrested by a team of the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) near Mianwali, a police spokesperson confirmed Sunday.

Law enforcers also claimed to apprehend the two sons of the former JUI-F leader who are identified as Altafur Rehman and Atiqur Rehman, on charges of uttering life threats to the victim for filing a case against their father.

Reports in local media quoting CIA Deputy Superintendent who led the raid stated the cleric and sons will shift to the provincial capital where they will be prosecuted. Adding that, ‘the culprit would be presented in court in a day or two.’

Soon after the arrest of Mufti Aziz, Punjab Inspector General Police Inam Ghani, took to his verified Twitter handle where he shared a picture of detained Aziz standing behind bars.

Ghani who seemed irked by the shameful act said that ‘police would take it as a test case. We will interrogate him, conduct a scientific professional investigation, prosecute and get him convicted by the court. We want our kids protected from these child molesters and keep our society safe for our future, he captioned the post.

Earlier this week, the North Cantonment police lodged a case against Mufti for sodomizing and blackmailing the student while the FIR also includes the names of his sons who attempted attacking the victim in a bid to intimidate him.

The FIR that has been lodged at the North Cantt police station under section 377 and 506 reads that the case was registered on the student’s complaint in which the victim, who hailed from Swat, mentioned that Mufti Aziz, sexually assaulted him and later the cleric’s sons started blackmailing and threatening to kill him.

The whole incident emerged Wednesday when a harrowing clip of the victim surfaced in which the teary-eyed survivor mentioned that he got life threats for exposing the religious cleric.

https://twitter.com/KhanBha19084869/status/1405395646618779648

Narrating the ordeal, the complainant added that the cleric alleged him for deceitful activities in exams. He went on saying that Aziz threatened that he holds the right to ban him from the Wafaqul Madaris for three years. I also approached the administration but they refused to believe my story as Rehman holds influence in the seminary, he further added.

The FIR further reads that Rehman asked the complainant to make sexual relations with him, and the complainant got no choice but to be subjected to sexual assault. Mufti after sexually assaulting the young boy claimed that the ban would be removed and that he would pass him in the exams. But he did nothing and started to abuse him for three long years.

The victim then presented all the secretly recorded videos along with audio clips to the administration of the Jamia Manzoorul Islamia after which they removed Mufti Rehman. Muhtasim Asadullah Farooq issued the directives to remove him immediately.

On the other hand, the cleric shared his side of the story in a recorded video clip in which he denied all allegations saying the boy in the clip had drugged him before recording the terrible clip.

He questioned the credibility of the clip stating how could have someone made a video using a mobile phone without him knowing. The cleric keeps on saying that the whole clip is staged and a conspiracy to have him deposed from the post.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Lahore’s secretary-general also issued a notice stating that the party had suspended the membership of Rehman and that it would remain revoked till the investigation concludes.

Punjab Child Protection and Welfare Bureau Chairperson Sara Ahmed also approached the victim and his parents and assured them that the victim and his family would be provided justice and complete legal cooperation.

Sexual abuse is a longstanding problem at seminaries in the South Asian country. In a culture where religious personalities hold power, sexual abuse is seldom discussed or even acknowledged in the masses.

Hundreds of cases of sexual abuse by clerics have been reported, and officials suspect there are many more within a far-reaching system that teaches millions of students.

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