PHC stops NAB from arresting official

Assets inquiry

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday stopped the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from arresting and harassing Special Secretary Home and Tribal Affairs Department, Siraj Ahmad, in assets inquiry against him.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Roohul Amin Khan Chamkani and Justice Muhammad Daud Khan issued the restraining order in a writ petition filed by the special secretary Home and Tribal Affairs Department.

The bench also issued a notice to NAB chairman and director general to submit a reply in the petition.

The court asked the petitioner to cooperate with the NAB in the inquiry against him.

Qazi Jawad Ihsanullah, the petitioner’s lawyer, submitted that his client was a grade-20 officer and presently appointed as special secretary Home and Tribal Affairs Department and was performing duty on administrative post.

He informed the bench that some days ago, the NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had issued a ‘call-up’ notice to the petitioner, asking him to appear before the investigation officer in an inquiry about his assets.

The lawyer said that the petitioner feared that he would be arrested or harassed if he joined the investigation and requested the court to stop the NAB from arresting him if he joined the inquiry.

Separately, the same division bench restrained NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from arresting an employee of Town-III Peshawar and asked him to join the investigation.

The court passed the restraining order on a writ petition of Azizur Rehman, an employee of Town-III Peshawar.

The petitioner’s counsel, Sahibzada Asadullah Khan submitted before the bench that his client had received a call-up notice from the NAB, asking him to join an inquiry related to affairs of the Town-III Peshawar.

The lawyer said that his client had already got restraining order in a similar inquiry and requested the court to stop the NAB from arresting and harassing the petitioner.