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KARACHI, June 22: The Sindh High Court asked the federal interior ministry on Wednesday to apprise it of the reasons behind the foreign travel ban imposed on Sardar Mohammad Akhtar Mengal, Balochistan National Party president and former chief minister.
The BNP chief submitted through Advocates Raja Qureshi and Syed Ghulam Shah that no notice was issued to him before putting his name on the exit control list. He was not even informed of the ban and came to know of it only when he went to the Karachi airport to board a flight to London.
He said there was no case or inquiry pending against him. He had no outstanding debt liability and wanted to proceed abroad for business and medical check-up. In the circumstances, the government decision was a wholly unwarranted, unconstitutional and unlawful infringement of his fundamental right to free movement.
A division bench comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Amir Hani Muslim issued notices to the respondents for June 27.
The bench also issued a notice to the University of Sindh for June 27 in a petition moved by M/s Hasan Architects against the termination of their contract as consultants for the construction work being carried out at the university campus.
BAIL GRANTED: The bench granted bail to Mian Abdul Jabbar and his wife, Siddiqa Jabbar, chairman and director of the Jason Group of Companies. Warrants for their arrest were issued by the National Accountability Bureau for allegedly fleecing a large number of people who booked apartments in the group’s Jason Beachview Project.
Advocates Mohammad Ashraff Kazi, Jan Mohammad Khuhro and Syed Sajid Munir submitted on the petitioners’ behalf that a ground-plus-14 floor housing complex was initially planned. However, the Karachi Building Control Authority barred them from raising more than four storeys besides the ground floor. There was also a big tanker stand which obstructed the construction work.
Out of the Rs100 million received from 880 prospective purchasers of flats, the counsel said, Rs30 million was refunded to 215 people when the project was stalled. They intended to repay the balance if the project were finally scrapped. In any case, there was no justification for the NAB to issue arrest warrants, the counsel contended.
The bench directed that the petitioners be admitted to bail in the sum of Rs500,000 million each. It also granted bail to Mrs Shaista Shamim, who has challenged her conviction and sentence by an accountability court, in the sum of Rs500,000.
She was held to be a beneficiary of the funds allegedly misappropriated by her husband, Shamim Ahmad Siddiqui, former senior auditor, sales tax, who has also filed an appeal against his conviction. She was jailed for five and he for 10 years.
Advocate Adnan Memon submitted on her behalf that she was a housewife and mother of two minor children. She had no property and had already challenged her conviction. But the minors would suffer an irreparable loss if they were deprived of their mother’s care.
PLEA DISMISSED: Another division bench comprising Justices M. Mujibullah Siddiqui and Maqbool Baqar dismissed a petition moved by builder and developer Haji Anwar for quashment of a fraud case registered against him by the Federal Investigation Agency.
The petitioner said he was a partner in M/s Zeeshan Builders, which obtained a loan facility of Rs321 million from the Muslim Commercial Bank in 1995.
The firm was accused of pledging false and fabricated securities for the facility. He submitted through Advocate Anwar Tariq that Mohammad Iqbal, managing director of Zeeshan Builders and Shandar Builders, has reached a settlement with the bank and he had nothing to do with the management of the firm. Besides, the MCB was a private bank and the FIA had no jurisdiction in the matter.
The petition was contested by federal government counsel Syed Ziauddin Nasir.
