Beware! Proclaimed offender in the House

Despite being declared an absconding accused two years ago in an arms and explosives smuggling case, a member of the provincial assembly continues to remain a minister. The minister – without a portfolio – along with his three other party members were declared proclaimed offenders by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) that also ordered seizure of their movable and immoveable property.
Sources in the Sindh Assembly (SA) Secretariat told Pakistan Today that despite receiving letters from the ATC, SA Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro has not taken any action against the MPA due to continuing policy of ‘political reconciliation’. On May 8, 2009, police in Jacobabad (a city situated along the Sindh-Balochistan border some 400 km from here) arrested a suspect named Nadeem Ahmed Brohi and recovered four Kalashnikovs, four magazines, rocket launcher shells, a bottle of explosive chemical, one pistols and hundreds of bullets from a stolen car (AKH-248) that the person was driving.
A joint investigation team (JIT) was formed to interrogate the suspect, who, during cross-examination, disclosed that the arms and ammunition were brought from Quetta and were to be handed over to then Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)’s provincial assembly member Nisar Panhwar, Rabita Committee central leader Ashfaq Mangi, activists Soobo Rind and Nihal Panhwar in Karachi. Reliable sources in the Interior Ministry disclosed that the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) had also found that Panhwar and Mangi maintained contacts with some neighbouring countries, but the matter is still under investigation.
After the JIT report, a case (FIR No 64/2009) was registered against the arrested man and the named accomplices under sections 353 and 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. The charge-sheet was presented before the ATC that repeatedly issued bailable and non-bailable warrants of the four alleged accused. Finally, on October 28, 2009, the court declared them proclaimed offenders after receiving the report of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) by the case investigation officer. The court also ordered revenue officials of four districts Jacobabad, Larkana, Shikarpur and Kashmore to seize the property of the accused men under Section 88 of the CrPc.
Interestingly, two just two days after the court’s order, Panhwar was elevated as a provincial minister on party quota of the MQM and as a proclaimed offender took oath from Governor Ishratul Ebad. He remained a minister until the last departure of the MQM from treasury benches and has also visited Jacobabad several times as a minister in an official vehicle with a national flag. Copies of the court order were also forwarded to Sindh Home Secretary, regional police officers of Sukkur, Hyderabad, Larkana and Karachi, but the accused could not be brought before the court because of the government’s reconciliation policy. The only person to have been arrested in the case has been Brohi, whose mother has now written to the Sindh chief minister, pleading that her son is innocent and was falsely implicated in the case and charges against him should be withdrawn.
However, the chief minister is yet to take any action. The sources claimed that the MQM has assured Brohi’s mother that her son will be released soon. They have also assured her that the cases registered against him and other party members will be withdrawn. Despite many attempts, Pakistan Today was unable to contact any MQM office-bearer for the party’s version on this story.