Feeling the heat from the order of a five-member bench of the Supreme Court, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Admiral (r) Fasih Bokhari started implementing the apex court orders against the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) on Friday and cases against all beneficiaries of the controversial law were reopened.
The arrests of a close aide of President Asif Ali Zardari and a close friend and former jail-mate of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani by the accountability watchdog came as a huge surprise, as Admiral (r) Bokhari had told the apex court during the last hearing of the NRO implementation case only a few days ago that he would not implement the verdict.
Within a single day, not only notices were issued to several accused people but also big fish such as former Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) chairman Adnan Khwaja, former establishment secretary Ismail Qureshi and former joint director of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Ahmed Riaz Shaikh – a close confidant of President Zardari – were questioned and detained, while the hunt was on for others.
A team of the NAB Special Operations Wing took Qureshi, currently principal of the National School of Public Policy, in custody late on Friday night while he was in a meeting at his office.
Sources close to Qureshi’s family told Pakistan Today that the NAB team arrested Qureshi only half an hour after Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had left the school after meeting him.
Sources said Qureshi resisted arrest and informed the raiding party that he had filed a writ petition for pre-arrest bail in the Lahore High Court and the LHC CJ had referred his matter to Justice Manzoor for further action. Sources said the raiding team did not pay heed to his words and took him into custody, saying they had clear orders to arrest him. Qureshi was arrested for his alleged involvement in financial embezzlement at the National School of Public Policy. Qureshi was taken to the NAB PunjabOffice at Thokar Niaz Baig along with Khwaja, where they will both be detained for one night and will be moved to Rawalpindi early on Saturday (today) in order to present them in court.
The arrest of Shaikh may jolt the presidential camp as the president had pardoned him earlier. Shaikh was been appointed FIA additional director general despite being an NRO beneficiary. The Supreme Court had taken notice of the issue and on orders from the court, he was rearrested by the police. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison on 2001 on charges of corruption, but he benefitted from the NRO. While he was in jail, not only did important Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) personalities meet him, but the president also granted general pardon to all the prisoners to get him out of jail.
Adnan Khwaja, who is not only an NRO beneficiary but also a jail-mate of Prime Minister Gilani, was first appointed the OGDCL director general and was subsequently removed after the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of the appointment. He is an FA-pass individual without any relevant experience who was appointed OGDCL’s managing director on September 9, 2010 in clear violation of the rules.
Arrest warrants were issued for around half a dozen accused and it was expected that more arrests would be made soon. A source in NAB told Pakistan Today that the bureau’s chief had reactivated the Special Operations Wing only a few days ago. Arrest warrants were issued by the NAB’s Rawalpindi and Lahore offices against those who had benefited from the NRO or else were wanted on directions from the apex court. He said Khwaja and Shaikh had appeared before NAB offices and were detained while arrest warrants against others were issued.
In its verdict in the NRO implementation case last week, the five-member bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa had questioned the attitude of the NAB chairman, terming it “defiance against the court” as Bokhari had reportedly refused to implement the verdict. The warrants were issued against Qureshi, Shaikh, Tahir Shahbaz, Raja Ahsen, Akhlaq Jillani and RA Zia. The source said efforts were on to arrest others who had failed to appear before NAB. Qureshi was the establishment secretary when Khwaja was appointed OGDCL chief, while Tahir Shahbaz was additional secretary and RA Zia was serving as the Cabinet Division deputy secretary.
Now, what the Jayalas will say regarding the arrest of these NRO beneficiers? Have they ever been part of PPP? The only merit of these people was that they were the jail- mates of Zardari and Gilani?Why PPP fooled the public that it had implemented all court orders except writing letter to Swiss Courts?My suggestion to PPP's sympathizers would be that they should start saying that their govt. is being victimized, trial of Benazir's grave is being done, the current rulers, if punished, will be remembered in the history like Shaheed Bhutto…..
Congrats. Well said.
I dont think so if they have committed a crime then then if found guilty then they have to pay the price. They wont be remembered like so called shaheed bhutto how can one be shaheed when hanged for murder. so called shaheed was the cause of dismemberment of pakistan when he did not accept the majority verdict of the people.
Seems like the ending scenes of a movie when i read this, a happy ending? Who knows, i really wish and pray for it for the sake of our country! A bit emotional right now, but all for the right reasons. I hope this continues, and get these blood sucking animals what they deserve once and for all and STICK to it! Amen
They deserve it.
Atleast some thing happening better, may this be continued, a lot more big fish are to be cought
It seems that this sudden change of heart from NAB was a result of a hint given by the top army generals that they would act if requested by the top Justice of SC to implement its (SC) orders. Time for these people to go back to where they belong.
Has the Supreme Court courage to order arrest men belonging to the MQM and who are at present occupying important public posts notable among them Eshrat Ibaad and Babar Ghauri etc etc.
It is imperative for the survival of Pakistan that massive corruption and abuse of power, disregard for rules by the top ruling elite of this country be stopped and curtailed. This can only happen if those at the top are punished severely instead of penalizing subordinates. It is time criminals in politics or those who aid them in the civil bureaucracy and khaki elite be prosecuted and punished, otherwise this country will become a failed state. Those who are elected like this PM, President, Ahmed Mukhtar, PIA and Railway executives, Monnis Elahi, Gillani sons, Riaz Maliks etc be put behind bars for rest of their lives and their ill-gotten wealth confiscated by the state, otherwise this plunder will continue.
@observer from UK_The cases of Eshrat Ebad and other accused killers of MQM are with Sindh High Court and FYI the cases are in process.But the prosecution is with the hand of PPP-led Sindh government.Prosecution is very slow because PPP don't want to allienate MQM because it needs MQM support to grab more seats in Senate.Why Sindh government's prosecution is extremely slow over Soulat Mirza and Ajmal Pahari (the two series killers of MQM)? Why PPP has embraced MQM so many times during the last 4 years if it feels that MQM is a terrorist party?The reason is, perhaps, "Democracy is the best revenge".Finnaly, don't you know the role of PPP in NICL scandal when the prosecution was so pathetic that Court had no way but to release Moonas Elahi?It is an open secret Zardari bargained Q-league in Moonas Case to get the support for his government.So, please get complete information before sympathizing with current PPP.It's not Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's era.
@Abdul Maalik. Thanks for your response. BB did envisage a policy of reconciliation and wanted to pursue policies according to charter of democracy but unfortunately Asif Zardari went too far to keep MQM on his side at the expense of rights Sindh without which support PPP would never have been able to form the government;
I wasn't aware that the cases of Eshrat Ebad and other accused killers of MQM were with SHC and it is incredible that not a single case hearing has been heard of. Someone who is accused of heinous crimes is occupying governor's mansion for more than 10 years.
I assure you that majority of people in Pakistan in general and Sindh in particular hate Asif Zardari's policy of capitulation before master blackmailer who is living here in London and destroying peace of Karachi. I agree with you that Asif entered into agreement with PML-Q to gain support and this action is devoid of principles.
I am focusing on MQM whose thugs are getting away with all their criminal actions and unfortunately CJP has failed people of Pakistan not ordering action when he spent nearly four weeks in Karachi discussing the situation the Sindh branch of the supreme court. Instead of using ambiguous language he should have ordered the government to arrest the criminals who were involved in 12th May carnage.
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'ALLAH quam per wesay he hukmaran mussalat karta hai jesi wo quam khud hoti hai' please think about it. whatever is happening to us is all because of our own deeds. We think that by praying 5 times a day we get a pardon from Allah to do just about any wrong we can think of, shame on us, we are not a nation, people just think about themselves here, if they are happy they dont give a jot whether the other person is dying from hunger or illness and there are numerous wrongs that we all do without thinking that Allah has warned us of the disastrous consequences. So guys, this is the wrath of all mighty Allah that we are facing and we are so blind that we curse politicians and others for all this, infact this is being done to us by Allah so that we revert back to the right path, the one Allah has ordered us to follow.
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