IHC grants bail to Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday granted bail to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice President and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as well as PML-N Secretary General and former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal in liquefied natural gas (LNG) and Narowal Sports Complex cases, respectively.

A two-member bench headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah and comprising Justice Ms Lubna Saleem Pervez conducted the proceedings and granted bail to the PML-N stalwarts against surety bonds of Rs 10 million each.

The court inquired from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as to why Iqbal and Abbasi were arrested. “Why should Iqbal and Abbasi be kept in prison if the investigation has been completed. How can the PML-N leaders be deprived of representation when people voted for them. Why are those people being punished who voted for Iqbal and Abbasi,” the court asked.

The court also questioned that when the whole record was present with the government institutions then why the NAB arrests any accused. The NAB authorities could not give any satisfactory reply in the court after which the bench granted bail to Iqbal. The court said the former interior minister’s name could be placed on Exit Control List (ECL) or the NAB investigation officer could take custody of Iqbal’s passport to ensure his presence in the court.

However, the court said the freedom of the PML-N leader could not be curtailed, and ordered his immediate release. The court also asked as to why federal and Punjab government officials involved in the Narowal Sports City Complex project were not apprehended along with Iqbal. Justice Minallah said in his remarks that the PML-N leaders could not be kept in custody without any reason and barring them unnecessarily was misuse of power.

During the hearing additional prosecutor general of the NAB opposed Iqbal’s bail plea, saying if the suspect was granted bail then it can disrupt the case record. Justice Minallah remarked that arresting a suspect to interrogate him showed incompetence on the part of the investigation officer and a suspect remains innocent until the crime was proved against him. The NAB prosecutor said if the PML-N leader submits his passport and appears when summoned by the court then he had no objection. It may be mentioned here that Iqbal was arrested in December last year.

The IHC also accepted the bail application of former premier Khaqan Abbasi after hearing arguments. The court observed the central character in LNG case was former secretary petroleum Abid Saeed who had prepared the summary for importing LNG and the NAB made him approver in the case after excluding him from the list of witnesses.

“We talk about these powers that the person who played whole role has been made witness from accused. The whole case was build up against Khaqan Abbasi on the allegation of Abid Saeed but the NAB has no evidence,” the court said. “While lodging this kind of cases the bureau not only tried to involve the innocent people in Pakistan but also committed exploitation of the foreign institutions which funded in the matter.

The NAB has no evidence and instead of this fact it wants to keep the suspect in jail,” it added.

The NAB prosecution team did not respond to this question. Later, the court ordered release of former premier Abbasi on bail.

It may be recalled here that the LNG case against Abbasi was closed by the NAB in 2016 and reopened in 2018.