The Punjab Inspector General of Police should look immediately into what some people with the help of Lahore’s shady police personnel are doing to Pakistan’s prominent historian, Dr Mubarak Ali. A lawyer, who was earlier a protégée of Dr Ali, has decided to involve him in cases that he has registered under Section 406 of the Penal Code for “theft of manuscripts” and false ownership, “by fraud”, of a journal.

Dr Mubarak Ali publishes an internationally recognised history journal in a country where the universities have failed to do this job. He is the author of many books on Muslim history and the history of Sindh. The most shocking thing is the way the police has hounded Dr Ali and his family. An FIR registered against him at the Mozang police station propelled the police to go looking for him. When that didn’t work, a second FIR at Islampura police station triggered arrest warrants for him once again. When that didn’t yield the desired results, considering the status of the accused, a third FIR was registered against him at Mozang police station, pleading that the first investigation officer had not done his job. When that too didn’t result in the arrest and incarceration of Dr Ali, a fourth FIR was registered against him at Nawankot police station, resulting in another warrant of arrest. This is ridiculous.

The IGP should look into what his personnel have been doing in this case involving a highly esteemed scholar. If this gets out of hand, Pakistan’s international image will be battered again. That will solicit an angry call from General Pervez Musharraf and then many people in Punjab will have to answer a lot of embarrassing questions. Certainly, we will not flinch in insisting that the harassment of Dr Mubarak Ali at the hands of the police should stop immediately.