Islamabad, Pakistan: The video message of a former member of the National Assembly of Pakistan Jamshed Dasti in which he begged the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to provide him protection is received with diverse perceptions among different strata of society.
Dasti who had to resign from the National Assembly for possessing a fake BA degree in the year 2010, in his video message leveled grave immoral charges against operatives of state institutions including the Police, intelligence agencies, and Counter Terrorism staff. Charges include undressing his wife, abusing her, throwing his six-month-old child on the ground, and taking away valuables from his home. The most serious part of his video statement is his message to his tribe—the Dasti Tribe—to come forward and protect him from the wrath of state institutions. Dasti is a Baloch tribe living in Balochistan and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. They are also located near Khairpur Mir’s, Thari Mirwah, Dera Ismail Khan, Shah Sadir Din Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffar Garh, and Layyah (Kot Sultan) in west and south Punjab. Also known as Dashti, like any other tribe it has a code of conduct that is compulsory to follow. These principles include extending hospitality and mercy, dealing with each other honestly, offering refuge to strangers, and taking revenge who attacks any member of the tribe. Therefore, the message of Jamshed Dasti to his tribe to protect him is a signal to his tribe to take revenge on the state institutions. Everyone in Pakistan understands that Balochistan is already in political turbulence due to the direct investment of anti-Pakistan elements to create an uprising against the state of Pakistan and the scene that Jamshed Dasti has created can work as fuel in the fire.
Jamshed Dasti was first elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan on the ticket of the Pakistan People’s Party from NA-178 Muazaffargarh-III in 2008. His BA degree was found fake therefore he had to resign from the National Assembly in 2010. In April 2013 Dasti was sentenced to 3 years in prison for presenting a fake graduation. On 10 April 2013, the Multan bench of Lahore High Court heard Dasti’s appeal and overturned his conviction of three years hence paving the way for him to contest the elections. By then, he had already left PPP and joined the Pakistan Muslim League (N). He was re-elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan as an independent candidate from NA-177 Muazaffargarh-II and NA-178 Muazaffargarh-III in the 2013 Pakistani general election. In the 2018 Pakistani general election he ran from NA-182 Muzaffargarh-II as a candidate of the Awami Raj Party and lost the election to a PPP candidate. In March 2023, Dasti joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and now running for a seat in the Provincial Assembly from PP-274 Muzaffargarh-VII as a candidate for the PTI in the 2024 Punjab provincial election. Dasti had been in controversies in the past for leveling unsubstantial charges against almost every political party and his statements in courts over his fake degree case earned him a bad name and was known as a habitual deceiver. Now his allegations are the latest situation where he put him at the center of media attention. However, these allegations are very serious and must be addressed by the state institutions.
Surprisingly, the interim government has yet not come out with an official statement on the situation, and only a message from Muzaffargarh’s Station House Officer (SHO), Khurram Riaz, is in social media in which he refuted Dasti’s allegations in a video statement, canning them as “groundless” and mere “fabricated”.
Dasti has gone too far in his allegations and said:
“Unbelievable cruelty has been committed against me. The only sin that I’ve committed is to support Imran Khan. My mind isn’t functioning anymore. They are torturing me just because I will run in elections. I am ready to die. My dignity has been violated. I never imagined that someone like me… would be subjected to such cruelty”, he claimed.
SHO of the area claimed that the alleged raid on Jamshed Dasti’s residence did not occur, and there was no mistreatment of his family. He mentioned that Dasti is wanted in 40 registered cases and is living the life of an absconder and even his family is not residing in the house Dasti claimed was raided. SHO further said that Dasti’s actions aimed to instigate “fear and disorder” within his tribe and this was an action that could harm the peace of the area.
PTI had already planned another “May 9 Mutiny- Part II” with the support of those who were also behind the May 9, 2023 mutiny but are still scout-free and still “untouchable”.
Interestingly, senior journalist and famous vlogger Rizwan Razi just a week ago claimed that he had got hold of PTI’s plan to create unrest in the country and his vlog claimed that PTI had planned to make forthcoming General Elections as controversial and would use them for instigating public against the State. One of the points raised by Rizwan Razi was that PTI had planned to level charges against intelligence agencies and police to disgrace the womenhood of PTI workers including charges of undressing female family members of PTI workers and candidates. The allegations of Dasti against police and CTD confirmed claims of Rizwan Razi that he had found secret planning of PTI because the point of “undressing by police/CTD” is already now included in Dasti’s allegations.
The DND News Agency when contacted Rizwan Razi for his comments over accusations of Jamshed Dasti against CTD of undressing his wife and misbehaving with his family, Razi was of the view that Dasti’s statement was neither new nor something unexpected from him (Rizwan Razi) because he had already exposed and shared with people what PTI had planned for forthcoming General Elections and Dasti’s statement is just a part of “Full Dress rehearsal” what PTI would do on Polling Day.
Rizwan Razi who joined journalism in the mid-80s had been jailed, abused, harassed, and even beaten up several times in the past by those who could not allow him straightforwardness and could not afford him to let for his blunt investigative journalism, is of the view that PTI had already planned another “May 9 Mutiny- Part II” with the support of those who were also behind May 9, 2023 mutiny but are still scout free and still “untouchable”.
Rizwan Razi believes that PTI planning for May 9 Mutiny Part-II is multilayered and he had already exposed how PTI would manipulate polling day events and then launch country-wide protests in Defence Housing societies and cantonment areas in the first phase. Razi believes that if the state would not take action before time then the situation would be far more serious than it was on May 9, 2023.
The Vlog of Rizwan Razi is hereunder for reference
