PTI provincial minister, 10 others nabbed for corruption

• Khan says corruption-accused Ziaullah Afridi will have to resign until he clears name
• Says PTI MNAs will return salaries they had drawn for period they were absent from proceedings

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Provincial Minister for Mines and Minerals Ziaullah Afridi was arrested on corruption charges on Thursday by the Ehtesab Commission in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Commission claims that the minister was involved in misuse of power for non-transparent leasing of contracts pertaining to land. The charges against him also include illegal recruitment and transfers allegedly made by the minister.

In another proceeding by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), former minister and secretary for mines and minerals Nawabzada Mehmood Zeb and Shah Wali, respectively and Bannu Commissioner Asmatullah Khan along with seven others were arrested in a land leasing scandal.

NAB claims that in 2008, 500 acres of land owned by the Mines and Minerals Department was leased for 33 years for Rs14,000 only. The land was leased in Abbotabad to a woman named Rukhsana in an agreement made by the minister’s front man Ehteshaamul Mulk which said that the profits will be shared between the two parties on a 50-50 basis.

KHAN SAYS AFRIDI SHOULD RESIGN:

Meanwhile addressing reporters after his party’s core committee meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said Ziaullah Afridi will have to resign from his post till he clears himself.

“Ziaullah Afridi has put in a lot of work for the PTI and I was very disappointed after learning about his arrest by our NAB,” said Khan. “But I had promised that our government will not interfere in NAB’s work and let me make it clear that the KP NAB is the only impartial body in the entire country,” said the PTI chief.

Khan said the KP NAB was not like the federal one, whose chairman had been handpicked by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Asif Ali Zardari. Imran Khan said he was proud of the fact that his party had delivered on its promise by formulating an independent accountability body in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said during the party meeting, a committee was formed to scrutinise the selection of Nazims in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“A massive Rs 40 to 45 billion is going to be at the disposal of the local government and we want to make sure that our Nazims have an upright character and can take responsibility.”

SALARIES RETURN:

Khan said it had been decided during the meeting that PTI members of National Assembly will give back the salaries they received for the period the party had been “absent from the assembly”.

Responding to a question, the PTI chairman said peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban, which Pakistan had brokered, were a positive sign.

“The biggest beneficiary of peace in Afghanistan is Pakistan,” said the PTI chairman, adding that an accessible Afghanistan opens up the whole of Central Asia for Pakistan.

Commenting on the recent influx of PPP members in his party, Khan said PPP had been the only national party whose members were ideological but the politics of “muk muka” between PML-N and PPP had alienated them.

Khan reiterated his earlier claims that 2015 will be the year of elections, saying the PTI team had presented a brilliant case before the poll-enquiry commission.