ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has been approached on Wednesday against the verdict of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for dismissing a writ petition against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf legislator Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar. Muhammad Ahsan Abid filed an appeal in the Supreme Court under Article 185(3) of Constitution, and made Prime Minister Imran Khan, chairman NAB, DG NAB Multan, and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Khusro Bakhtiar as respondents.
The petitioner is voter of NA-177 Rahim Yar Khan and had contested general elections from the same constituency. Ahsan Abid submitted he had filed quo warranto writ petition under Article 199 of Constitution in the IHC, which was dismissed on 20-10-2020.
The petitioner stated that he had filed a complaint before the chairman National Accountability Bureau regarding corruption and corrupt practice of Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar. The chairman NAB forwarded the complaint to the DG NAB Multan for verification.
The petitioner claimed that according to the DG NAB report, prior to membership of the National Assembly, the whole family of Khusro Bakhtiar, including his two brothers, Omer Shehryar and Hashim Bakht, owned 5,720 kanal agriculture land in District Rahim Yar Khan, which was the only source of their bread and butter.
Further after induction in the federal cabinet in 2004, the assets in the name of non-public office-holder members of the subject family ballooned to billion of rupees, despite their expenditure on more than 100 foreign trips and expenses on elections.
The subject accumulated assets in the name of his mother, brothers, and their wives which included sugar mills i.e. Etihad Sugar Mills in Rahim Yar Khan, Two Star Sugar Mills, and Shahtaj Sugar Mills, five Power Generation Companies, four Capital Investment Companies, and one Ethanol Processing Plant.
Furthermore, their agriculture property increased from 5,702 kanals to 7,780 kanals, along with 6-7 residential houses, and plots in different cities of Pakistan. The family received a foreign remittance of approx Rs797 million during 2011-2018.
The petitioner submitted that he sent applications to the chief justice of Pakistan, chairman and the DG NAB, and other authorities but no action was taken against Khusro Bakhtiar, due to his political/official influence. He submitted that then he filed a writ petition in the Islamabad High Court, which was dismissed on 20-10-2020. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied by the IHC judgment, he preferred the instant appeal before the apex court.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020