Court seeks affidavits from Gepco employees

LAHORE

A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Thursday sought affidavits from terminated employees of Gujranwala Electric Power Supply Company (Gepco) who approached it against alleged harassment by the National Accountability Bureau. 

Usman Nazir and others filed petitions contending that they were appointed in Gepco during the stint of former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and later terminated. They said since the NAB initiated inquiry against ex-PM on charges of making illegal appointments in Gepco it had been pressuring them (petitioners) to testify against the former premier. “The NAB wants us to accuse Raja Pervez Ashraf of offering jobs to them after taking bribe,” the petitioners alleged saying they were hired on merit.

They alleged that the NAB kept some of their terminated colleagues in illegal detention for hours and subjected them to torture. They said the bureau released them after taking their signatures on ‘blank papers’. They asked the bench to restrain the NAB from extending any harassment to them. 

The bench headed by Justice Mahmood Maqbool Bajwa adjourned hearing till June 13 and directed the petitioners to submit their affidavits.