AC indicts Ahsan Iqbal in Narowal Sports City case

ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court (AC), Islamabad on Tuesday indicted Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Ahsan Iqbal in the Narowal Sports City case.

Ahsan Iqbal appeared before the accountability court during the hearing of the case. The judge read out charges against him. He, however, pleaded not guilty and opted to contest them.

Ahsan Iqbal raised his objections over the process and said a judge first needed to ascertain whether there was even a case or not. “A judge does not speak only after listening to the prosecution,” he added.

However the AC judge stopped him from arguing and said, “We are not sitting here for hearing such things.” “Submit an application if you want to or talk through your lawyer,” said the judge, who went on with the indictment.

“We are saying this after looking into the presented record that prima facie there is a case,” he noted. Ahsan Iqbal is named as accused in the Narowal Sports City reference, filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). He is accused of inflicting losses worth billions of rupees on the national exchequer by launching the Sports City project in his constituency.

While talking to media outside the court, Ahsan Iqbal said the only purpose of references is the character assassination of opposition leaders and requested the chief justice to allow broadcasting of court hearings, so the public could see what these people are doing. Ahsan Iqbal said a burden of fake cases had been put on the country’s judicial system due to which genuine cases that need to be resolved at the earliest have been suffering.