ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday shifted retired Capt Mohammad Safdar, son-in-law of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, to Adiala jail.

The bureau also got three FIRs registered against leaders and workers of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) who had sheltered Capt Safdar and created hurdles in his arrest on Sunday.

Senator Chaudhry Tanvir Khan, his son Barrister Danyal Tanvir, Raja Hanif, Hanif Abbasi, Shakeel Awan, Malik Ibrar, Raja Mushtaq, Shabbir, Sheikh Arsalan, Faizan, Ghayyur Butt, Maqbool Khan, Shafique, Ziaullah Shah, Zaibun Nisa and Adnan Bodla have been nominated in the FIRs.

An FIR was also registered against Capt Safdar for violating different laws.

NAB gets three FIRs registered against PML-N leaders and workers for sheltering Capt Safdar

NAB has expressed dissatisfaction over the role played by the Punjab police and written a letter to police high-ups that despite registration of FIRs, no arrest of PML-N leaders and workers has so far been made. It also expressed annoyance as to why a convicted person was allowed to lead a rally in Rawalpindi.

“The officials of anti-graft watchdog presented Capt Safdar in the Accountability Court, Islamabad, on Monday morning and the court ordered shifting him to Central Jail Adiala,” said an official handout issued by NAB.

Another handout said: “The NAB has identified Shakeel Awan, Chaudhry Tanvir Khan and Malik Ibrar who sheltered a convicted person [Capt Safdar] and created hurdles in his arrest that was ordered by the Accountability Court, Islamabad.”

Capt Safdar, who was arrested by NAB after he led a rally in Rawalpindi along with other PML-N leaders and workers, was shifted to Adiala jail amid tight security at 9.30am.

He was sentenced to one-year imprisonment in a reference related to London flats by the accountability court on Friday.

Police sources said Capt Safdar was driven from Islamabad in an armoured vehicle to the jail where he underwent a medical examination to verify his health condition and then he was shifted to barrack No 2 specified for ‘B’ category prisoners in line with the permission by the Punjab home department.

B-class prisoners are given facilities of a television, newspaper, bed and toilet, but they cannot get a mobile phone or air-conditioner facility.

Extra wardens have been deployed outside the “B-class” compound to ensure Capt Safdar’s security.

NAB submitted an application to the city police officer, Rawalpindi, for registration of a case against 200 to 400 PML-N leaders and workers who tried to stop the bureau’s team from arresting Capt Safdar.

Three separate FIRs were registered — one with the city police station, the second with the Waris Khan police station and the third with the New Town police station — on various charges ranging from violating Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code and carrying out an illegal rally, creating the law and order situation and obstructing public movement. However, no arrests have been made so far.

An FIR was registered against Capt Safdar for leading an “illegal” rally in the city police station area on Sunday.

Local leaders and election candidates and hundreds of workers of the PML-N were booked for helping a convicted person bring out a rally, inciting people and blocking Murree Road.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2018