Graft cases pending against Hamza, Hashmi, 9 others

Federal Law Minister Moula Bakhsh Chandio told the National Assembly on Wednesday that corruption cases against 11 incumbent and former parliamentarians, including Hamza Shahbaz, Javed Hashmi and Aftab Sherpao, were pending in court while enquiries against three parliamentarians, namely Khawaja Saad Rafique, Mian Muhammad Asif and Chaudhry Anwar Ali Cheema had been closed.
In a written reply, the law minister said the cases against former and incumbent parliamentarians Rana Nazeer Ahmad, Tariq Anees, Javed Hashmi, Senator Malik Salahuddin Dogar, Zafar Baig Bhithani, Senator Ghulam Ali, Aftab Sherpao, Nawab Yusuf Talpur, Hamza Shahbaz, Ghulam Ali Nizamani and Interior Minister Rehman Malik were pending in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) courts, high courts and the Supreme Court. Chandio said the enquiries against Khawaja, Asif and Cheema had been closed during January 2007 to January 2011. He told the House that no reference or case had been related to these enquiries in the courts.
Responding to a supplementary question, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Human Rights Mustafa Nawaz Khokar told the House that the number of missing people in Balochistan had increased, as in 2010 some 102 people were found to be missing while in 2011, the total number of missing people was 206. He added that the Supreme Court was playing a vital role in missing people’s cases while the government had also formed a commission that had recovered almost 40 people in the last year. In a written reply, Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar told the House that five employees of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) were found to be involved in smuggling in 2010-11. Two of them tried to smuggle heroin and were subsequently fired and prosecuted.