IHC questions use of Nur Khan airbase in Zulfi Bukhari case

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) questioned the use of Nur Khan airbase while hearing a petition seeking removal of Zulfi Bukhari’s name from the blacklist.

Justice Aamer Farooq was hearing the case and questioned how a private charter jet was allowed at Nur Khan airbase.

“Can the airbase be employed for private use, and if so then what is the procedure?” the judge asked a representative from the Ministry of Defence.

To this, the defence ministry official replied that he was only informed that he was to appear before the court a night before and that he did not even receive a copy of the petition.

Earlier, Zulfi Bukhari, a close aide of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, was barred from leaving Pakistan when he proceeded to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah on Monday, June 11. Bukhari was later granted a one-time permission to go abroad for six days by the Interior Ministry.

Sikandar Bashir Mohmand, the counsel for Zulfi Bukhari, has previously argued that his client left for Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah along with Imran Khan in a special flight from the Nur Khan Airbase when the Federal Investigation Agency informed him that his name was on the blacklist.

On Monday, Bukhari was interrogated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in an investigation pertaining to offshore companies, after the IHC instructed him to join the NAB probe.