ISLAMABAD: The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) on Thursday challenged the release of local PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi, who was sentenced in the ephedrine case, in the Supreme Court.

ANF’s prosecution has appealed a Lahore High Court (LHC) order suspending Abbasi’s sentence of life imprisonment in a case related to the misuse of the controlled substance ephedrine. Abbasi was sentenced by a control of narcotics substances (CNS) court days before the general election last year.

The LHC suspended Abbasi’s sentence on April 4 and ordered his release on bail against Rs10 million in surety bonds.

ANF’s appeal argued that section 51 of the CNS Act bars the courts from granting bail in sentences of life imprisonment or death.

Section 51 states: “Bail shall not be granted to an accused person charged with an offence under this act or under any other law relating to narcotics where the offence is punishable with death.”

The appeal added that under section 426, the LHC could not take up the case before at least two years of Abbasi’s imprisonment have passed. In addition, the LHC examined witness statements, which could not be relied upon during the hearing of constitutional petitions.

The appeal said that under section 29 of the act, the trial court is empowered to presume a suspect is guilty unless proven innocent.

The law states: “In trials under this act, it may be presumed, unless and until the contrary is proved, that the accused has committed an offence under this act.”

The LHC order that suspended Abbasi’s sentence noted that the CNS judge admitted that ephedrine is not mentioned in the act as a controlled substance and had relied on a “Google based definition” to substantiate the charge.

The LHC noted that the counsel representing the federal government “admitted that still federal government has not issued notification” to designate ephedrine a narcotic substance.

The prosecution alleged that Abbasi sold the ephedrine to narcotics smugglers but the LHC observed that the CNS court’s verdict itself stated that “no iota of evidence could come on record regarding the sale of ephedrine by Mohammad Hanif Abbasi to anyone-else.”

Citing a subsequent paragraph of the verdict, the LHC noted that the trial court formed the opinion that Abbasi was under obligation to prove he used ephedrine in the manufacturing of De-Asm tablets. The court observed that the trial court in order to substantiate the allegation relied upon the testimony of two witnesses which contradicted the prosecution’s case.

The LHC observed: “The trial court convicted the petitioner for not utilizing of 137 kg of ephedrine and keeping the same for long time in possession.”

The order added: “Admittedly that the same was not recovered from his possession. Admittedly there was no allegation of illegal possession of ephedrine against the petitioner rather the case of the prosecution was that he secured ephedrine from the Ministry of Health under a valid license through a valid quota, therefore, it sold out the same to drug paddlers.”

However, there was not an iota of evidence to substantiate the prosecution’s allegation, the LHC order stated.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2019