March, 14 2005	Monday	03 Safar 1426

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, March 13: Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat will return on March 16 with what he called an assurance from Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz that no “action” would be taken against him in a loan default case.

Mr Hayat told Dawn by telephone from London on Sunday that he was on an official visit and would return according to schedule.

“I have received a telephone call from the prime minister who assured me that the entire ruling PML is supporting me,” the minister said.

PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has also reportedly telephoned Mr Hayat assuring his support to the minister. Similarly, Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal and Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao also contacted Mr Hayat and expressed their support.

Mr Hayat said matters relating to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the State Bank of Pakistan for rescheduling of the loan outstanding against his Shah Jewna Textile Mills had already been settled.

“My own party leaders have assured me of their full support after my return to the country,” he said.

An Accountability Court Lahore on Saturday asked the interior ministry to put the names of Faisal Saleh Hayat and seven other persons on the ECL in Shah Jewna Textile Mills reference.

NAB prosecutor-general Irfan Qadir has reportedly said the bureau would not arrest the minister, saying that following the dismissal of Mr Hayat’s bail petition by the Supreme Court, it was the prerogative of the accountability court concerned to take a decision on the matter.

“The NAB has completed the investigations and the trial has almost completed, therefore the bureau has no need to take Mr Hayat into custody,” he said.

He had confirmed that the minister had started retiring the previously defaulted bank loan to State Bank of Pakistan under a “reconciliation deal”.