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| July 8, 2005 | Friday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 30, 1426 |
CM seeks report on smuggling allegations
QUETTA, July 7: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Mohammad Yousuf has directed the home department to submit a report on allegations levelled against Excise and Taxation Minister Mir Amanullah Notezai. Sources said the chief minister had taken serious notice of a letter reported to have been sent by the interior ministry to the chief secretaries of Sindh and Balochistan alleging that the minister was involved in smuggling of vehicles from Afghanistan.
However, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan, contacted by the chief minister, reportedly expressed ignorance about the letter.
The sources said a deputy secretary of the interior ministry had signed the letter.
They said the chief minister had expressed displeasure over the letter based on a ‘false’ report of an intelligence agency and said that it was a conspiracy to defame his government by implicating a minister of his cabinet in smuggling case.
He directed the home department to investigate the issue and submit a report to him in 24 hours. Speaking at a press conference at his residence , Mr Notezai accused his political opponents of leveling baseless allegations against him.
He said he had not smuggled any vehicles from Afghanistan. Besides, there was no excise and taxation office in Dalbandin, because it was a tribal agency. He said no officials with names mentioned in this regard were working in his department.
“I am ready to face legal action if anybody has proof of my involvement in such a crime,” he said.
He said he reserved the right to sue a private television channel and the department concerned for spreading baseless reports against him.
He said he would not yield to his opponents and would continue to serve his people from the platform of the Pakistan Muslim League.
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