Ex-minister petitions PHC against arrests by Ehtesab Commission

PESHAWAR: Former provincial minister Ziaullah Afridi has approached the Peshawar High Court (PHC) to challenge the acts that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission has taken before its formal notification was issued on September 14.
Through a writ petition filed through Barrister Mudassir Amir, the former minister for mineral development also sought his release on bail.
The petitioner said that the Ehtesab Commission had started arresting people since June this year though its establishment was notified much later in September.
He stated that the Ehtesab Commission Act said that its director general was to be selected by the members but the provincial government ignored the Act by directly appointing the present director general.
The court was requested to declare the pre-September 14 arrests by the Ehtesab Commission null and void and grant temporary bail to the accused till decision in the petition.
The next hearing in the petition was fixed for October 8.
Ziaullah Afridi, elected MPA from urban Peshawar on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ticket, was arrested by the Ehtesab Commission on July 9 on charges of corruption and misuse of power. He was later sacked as minister and expelled from the PTI.
The previous bail applications of Ziaullah Afridi have been rejected. He is presently under treatment at the Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar.
It may be added that the Ehtesab Commission has been dogged by legal shortcomings since its establishment late last year. These legal loopholes were exploited by lawyers to successfully seek bail for a number of accused arrested by the Ehtesab Commission on corruption charges.