Just a day after nominating him for the top government office, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) dropped the name of Makhdoom Shahabuddin hours after an anti-narcotics court issued non-bailable arrest warrants against him.
Soon after receiving the warrants, a team of the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) carried out a raid at the Minister’s Colony to arrest the textiles minister however, it was not given permission to go beyond the main gate. The ANF raid team, which arrived on two vehicles at 4.00pm, kept waiting at the main gate for at least one hour, while seeking permission to move in and arrest Shahabuddin.
The team went back after the ANF team leader contacted Shahabuddin’s staff on intercom and was told that he was not home. Shahabuddin, a staunch Zardari loyalist with a powerbase in southern Punjab, had been textiles minister until Tuesday. He was the consensus choice following more than 24 hours of crisis talks and intense horse trading between Zardari and members of his fractious ruling coalition. He was briefly finance minister during the 1993-1996 premiership of Benazir Bhutto. But it was his stint as health minister that led to his arrest warrant over the alleged import of an illegal drug in 2010.
The warrants for Shahabuddin were issued by Judicial Magistrate Shafqatullah Khan after the deadline for him to appear before the ANF expired. During the last hearing of the Ephedrine drug case, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had also directed the ANF to arrest Shahabuddin. The ANF is investigating the Rs 7 billion drug scam, which involves Ali Musa Gilani, the son of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
After submitting his nomination papers to the national assembly, Shahabuddin thanked Zardari and shrugged off a question about his possible arrest by quoting a poetic verse, alluding flying high on “hostile winds”. Political analyst Hasan Askari said suspicion would fall on the military for being behind the warrant, saying it was unusual for junior courts to intervene against senior politicians without being pushed. “Makhdoom Shahabuddin’s chances are declining because the action by the anti-narcotics force gives an impression that the army is not favourable to him. It appears that the army wants to wind up the present government but without actually coming into power,” Askari told AFP.