PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) arrested on Thursday provincial Minister for Minerals Development Ziaullah Afridi on charges of misusing authority and allowing illegal mining in various areas.

Mr Afridi, who is a leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and MPA from Peshawar, was taken into custody from his residence by personnel of the commission which was set up last year by the provincial government through the KPEC Act.

An official of the commission said he would be presented before an accountability judge on Friday and his physical remand would be sought for investigating the charges.

On June 8, the commission had arrested the director general of mines and minerals development department, Dr Liaqat Ali, on charges of allowing illegal mining in phosphate and chromite mines. His bail petition is pending before the Peshawar High Court.

The commission said the minister had been arrested because of strong evidence suggesting his alleged misuse of authority.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is also investigating the matter.

Dr Liaqat Ali has mentioned the NAB inquiry as one of the grounds on which he is seeking his release on bail. He claimed that under the KPEC Act 2014 the commission could not take cognisance of an issue pending before a federal agency.

An official of the commission said it had been conducting the inquiry for several months and had the initial findings suggested irregularities in the department and that the accused had inflicted losses of millions of rupees to the exchequer through illegal mining carried out in Nizampur (Nowshera), Abbottabad and some other areas.

He said there was a ban on awarding mining contracts but illegal mining continued in various places.

The official said the commission was also inquiring into illegal postings and transfers made by Mr Afridi and he would be questioned on the matter.

He brushed aside a perception that the minister had been arrested to pre-empt his detention by NAB.

Due to certain lacunas in the KPEC Act several high-profile suspects have recently been granted bail by the high court, including former provincial minister Liaqat Shabab of the PPP, Finance Department’s Additional Secretary Imtiaz Ayub and Kohat District Council’s Chief Coordination Officer Noor Daraz, who is father of PTI MPA Gul Sahab Khan.

Activists of the PTI proudly mentioned the arrest of the minister and said on social media that the party had set up an independent accountability commission.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2015

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