NAB issues arrest warrant for Faryal Talpur

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Thursday issued an arrest warrant for former president Asif Ali Zardari’s sister Faryal Talpur, sources said.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) had on June 10 recalled the pre-arrest bail granted to the PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Faryal Talpur in the fake accounts case. Sources said the arrest warrant had been handed over to the NAB Rawalpindi chapter after approval by Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal.

Following the directions, the NAB Rawalpindi constituted a team to arrest the PPP leader. Sources said the NAB authorities were attempting to trace the whereabouts of Talpur in order to arrest her. A special team of NAB intelligence officers has also been assigned the task to trace and arrest Faryal. The NAB had taken Zardari in its custody from his residence in the federal capital. He was taken to the NAB Rawalpindi office.

During the course of proceedings in the IHC, a two-member bench, comprising Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, rejected the petitions seeking extension in the interim bails of Zardari and Talpur.

However, the NAB did notarrest Talpur because her arrest warrants had not been issued. According to sources, the arrest warrants were issued on the request of the NAB combined investigation team.

Faryal’s arrest is expected anytime. The PPP claimed that a contingent of police and NAB officials was in the Zardari House environs and it was expected that Faryal Talpur’s residence might be declared as sub-jail.

Talking to reporters, PPP Parliamentarians Secretary General Farhatullah Babar said when they came from the hospital where the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC) where the NAB had taken Asif Ali Zardari for checkup, they noticed that the police were deployed in the streets around the Zardari House. "We want to tell the government that residents of Zardari House are not afraid of such tactics," he said.