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PESHAWAR, Jan 6: Officials of the National Accountability Bureau arrested Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, chief of his own faction of PPP, when he arrived here at the Peshawar Airport on Sunday.
Mr Sherpao arrived here by a Qatar Airlines flight after ending his two-year self-imposed exile in London.
His arrest was expected as NAB authorities had announced that Mr Sherpao would be arrested on his return, in connection with his conviction in a case.
Hundreds of PPP workers, who arrived from other districts on Saturday night in Peshawar, were disallowed to proceed towards the airport where security was tight to avoid any mishap.
Later, a procession, led by Sikandar Khan Sherpao, the son of Mr Sherpao, and others, paraded on the GT Road and finally it turned into a public meeting near the Soori bridge. Braving severe cold and fog that had enveloped the city, the PPP workers and leaders stayed on the road for an hour.
The speakers lashed out at the government for creating hurdles in their peaceful programme organized to welcome their leader. They alleged that the police had stopped scores of PPP workers and leaders coming to Peshawar from other districts.
PPP workers chanted slogans in favour of late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and late Hayat Mohammad Khan Sherpao who was killed in a 1974 bomb blast in Peshawar University.
Mr Sikandar Sherpao said that his father was a law-abiding person who was ready to face the cases. “We hope the superior courts will provide him justice. We think that it is the right time to stay with our people when the country is faced with internal uncertainty and external threats. The return of Mr Sherpao will strengthen the political process in the country,” he added.
He claimed that Sherpao-led PPP was the real democratic force which had struggled for the rights of people. “We believe in the might of the masses,” he said.
Mr Khan dispelled the impression created by a specific lobby that his father had made any deal with the government prior to his return to the country.
Mr Kabir Ali Wasti, president of his own faction of the PML, said that Mr Sherpao was a true patriot who had decided to serve his country in the crucial moment of its history.
PPP leaders Saeed Ahmed Khan, Ahmad Hassan, Ghani Khan, Fazal- ur-Rehman, Malik Zarawar, Allama Zubair of Ahle Hadith and others also spoke on the occasion.
REMAND: Mr Sherpao was remanded in custody of the National Accountability Bureau for 15 days by an accountability court here on Sunday night.
The remand was obtained in the famous Ring Road land case in which he is a co-accused along with former senator Haji Gul Sher and others.
The additional deputy prosecutor-general of NAB, Mr Haider Ali, and investigation officer Habibullah Khan accompanied the accused to the Accountability Court No 3 presided over by Syed Yahya Zahid Gillani.
They informed the court that the accused was wanted in a reference pertaining to the Ring Road land case and they required his physical custody in that connection.
The accused was earlier sentenced in absentia for three years imprisonment under Section 31-A of the NAB Ordinance, 1999, under which an absconding accused could be sentenced. Moreover, he is also a co-accused in three references pending against him.
A NAB official told Dawn that there were two reasons for which they had to produce the accused before the court in the night. He said under the NAB Ordinance an accused had to be produced before the court within 24 hours of his arrest and, as Sherpao was taken into custody at 6.00am, he had to be produced on Sunday.
Secondly, the official said that they had also to keep in mind the law and order situation as in day time his supporters might reach the court in large numbers, creating problems for them.
Senior advocate Zaffar Abbas Zaidi, representing Mr Sherpao in different cases, told Dawn that it was too early to file bail petitions on behalf of Mr Sherpao.
Mr Zaidi said that Mr Sherpao was not the prime accused in any of the references in which he was nominated, as in all three outstanding references he was the co-accused. Moreover, he added, the appeal against his conviction in absentia had been pending before the high court and as he had surrendered himself, they expected something positive from the high court.
