Jailed Pak Opp leader living out nightmares

Hashmi’s family and his lawyers say that he has been tortured in jail. Interrogators have blindfolded him, repeatedly thrown him against walls, and kept him locked up in a small, dark cell without breaks for exercise or access to books or newspapers, his daughter, Maimoona Hashmi, said in an interview on Sunday. She was the first person allowed to visit him, 18 days after his arrest on October 29. She said the encounter lasted about 15 minutes, under strict supervision. ‘‘Because he couldn’t speak very clearly in our meeting, he just banged his head sideways to show how he had been physically tortured,’’ said the 32-year-old Maimoona.

‘‘Pervez Musharraf and his gang were imposed on this nation,’’ said the anonymous letter that got Hashmi arrested. ‘‘These national criminals have not only held the Army hostage, but also the entire nation. This is the gang of thieves, which looted its own nation and aided American Jews and Christians in killing our Afghan brothers. Musharraf has transformed Pakistan from the fort of Islam to the deathbed of Muslims.’’

The letter, written in Urdu, was addressed to the National Leadership, and praised the Parliament for halting Musharraf from sending troops to aid US forces in Iraq.

ISI denounced the letter as a fake, and Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed called it baseless propaganda. Hashmi never expressed support for the anonymous letter, but only read it to reporters after a committee of Parliament members selected him to make it public, his lawyer said. But Hashmi did publicly support at least one demand in the letter: a commission of inquiry into the 1999 Kargil war. Prosecutors have filed at least 10 separate criminal charges against Hashmi. The legislator faces life in prison if convicted. (LAT-WP)