PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday declined interim bail to former provincial mines minister Ziaullah Afridi and former director general of the department Dr Liaquat Ali in the cases of misuse of office and corruption.

While pronouncing a short order, a bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Irshad Qaisar observed that the main petitions of the two suspects against their arrest by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission would be heard on Sept 10 along with other petitions against provisions of the KPEC Act 2014.

Ziaullah Afridi, an MPA of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, was arrested on July 9 when he was the mines and mineral development.

The Ehtesab Commission had initially charged him with carrying out illegal postings and transfers and facilitating illegal mining in the province and later charged him in two cases of facilitating illegal mining in Charssada and Abbottabad.

Dr Liaquat Ali was arrested on June 17 on almost the same charges. Until now, he has been booked in four cases of illegal appointments and facilitation in unlawful mining.

PHC to hear their petitions against arrest along with those challenging KPEC law

The high court had earlier granted interim bail to Ziaullah on Aug 25 in the initial case, but he was not set free as the Ehtesab Commission claimed that he had also been charged in two other cases. He was seeking interim bail on technical grounds and now his main petitions would be heard on merit.

A panel of lawyers comprising Abdul Lateef Afridi, Barrister Muddasir Amir, Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Ameenur Rehman appeared for the two suspects and argued the court had earlier granted interim bail to several suspects.

They contended that in the original KPEC Act, there was no provision regarding the applicability of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to the proceedings under the Act.

The lawyers said the Act was also silent on powers of the Ehtesab judge to send a suspect to prison on judicial remand and on the same ground several suspects were allowed interim bail.

They said recently, the provincial government made amendments to the KPEC Act and tried to remove that lacuna, but instead of applying the CrPC to the entire Act, it had now been only applied to procedure for trials.

Barrister Mudassir pointed out that in initial grounds of arrests given to Ziaullah, it was mentioned that he failed to exercise his authority to prevent loss to the exchequer through illegal mining, and the said charge pertained to the entire province.

He questioned how the commission made separate cases pertaining to mines in Charssada and Abbottabad afterwards.

Additional deputy prosecutor general of the commission Qazi Babar Irshad said none of the KPEC Act provisions had so far been declared in conflict with the constitution.

He said the grounds on which earlier interim bails were granted by the high court were no longer available.

He said last month, the provincial assembly had passed the Ehtesab Commission (Amendment) Act, 2015, making certain amendments to the original law.

Several suspects were granted interim bail before amendments were made to the law lately.

Those who secured bail also included former provincial minister and PPP leader Liaquat Shabab, Kohat district council chief coordinating officer Noor Daraz Khan, additional secretary finance Imtiaz Ayub and Iqra National University chief executive Obaidur Rehman.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2015

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