The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday extended interim pre-arrest bail of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader and Opposition Leader in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly Akram Khan Durrani till November 21.
A division bench of the IHC comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the petition and extended bail, which it had granted to JUI-F leader against two surety bonds of Rs 500,000 each in corruption inquires against him. During the course of hearing, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) sought time to submit reply. At this, the court extended bail to Durrani and directed the NAB to submit its reply in this regard. Later, the court deferred hearing in this matter till November 21.
Durrani filed the petition through his counsel Kamran Murtaza and made the chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB), deputy director of the Investigation Wing-II and investigation officer as respondents.
The JUI-F leader stated that he has previously served as chief minister of KP and also has been a federal minister for housing and works.
He added that the petitioner was sent a questionnaire by the NAB in an enquiry regarding appointment of Director PHA-F as chairman of committee for allotment of plots for mosques. Durrani said that he duly responded it.
He adopted that the petitioner has been playing an instrumental role in Rehbar Committee while his party (JUI-F) has been holding Azadi March against the incumbent government since October 27.
"The increase in pace of call-up notices to the petitioner is done with mala fide intention at the instance of the government just to disturb the political activities," added Durrani.
He maintained, "Respondent # 1 (NAB) since its formation in 1999 has primarily been serving as a tool of political engineering and a way of silencing dissenting voices and it was anticipated by organizers of the Azadi March that respondent Bureau will suddenly spring into action against certain individuals playing a significant role in gathering support for the march."
He adopted in his petition that he has been cooperating with the anti-graft watchdog in its probe against him. The JUI-F leader said that he was in Quetta due to political activities when he learnt that his arrest warrants has been issued by the Bureau to stop him from garnering support for Azadi March. He prayed to the court to grant him bail before arrest till the final disposal of the matter.
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