PHC extends stay order against ex-senator’s arrest

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday again extended the stay order for restraining the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) from arresting former senator and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Ghulam Ali.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan extended the stay order. The KPEC had sought details of assets from Ghulam Ali several months ago.

During the hearing, the KPEC prosecutor informed the bench that he had submitted reply in the case. The court on the request of the petitioner’s lawyer adjourned the case.

At the previous hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer, Qazi Jawad Ihsanullah, said that an official of the KPEC phoned his client on October 12 and asked him to visit his office. He said when his client went there, he was given a document to file details of his assets within four days. The petitioner claimed that no written call-up notice was issued to him.

The lawyer said 14 years ago his client Ghulam Ali was arrested by the NAB on the charge of possessing Rs315 million assets that were disproportionate to his known sources of income, but an accountability court acquitted him on April 8, 2009 and the judgment was later upheld by the high court.