ISLAMABAD: An accoun­ta­bility court on Monday rejected a request of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to give custody of former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal for another fortnight and sent him to Adiala jail on judicial remand.

The prosecution produced Mr Iqbal, who is a senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, before the accountability court and requested it to further extend his physical remand since the investigation team wanted to probe some aspects of the Narowal Sports City project.

Mr Iqbal is accused of using funds of the federal government and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) for a sports city being established in Narowal — a multi-billion-rupee project.

The judge remarked that the former minister should have been interrogated at the very outset and rejected the NAB request.

Mr Iqbal was on physical remand for 28 days.

Talking to journalists, the former interior minister said that the government had failed to deliver. Prime Minister Imran Khan, instead of putting the economy on the right track, was opening langar khanas (charity food points), he added.

He said that even after becoming prime minister, Imran Khan was trying to overcome grave economic problems through langar khanas as he had a vast experience of collecting funds in the name of charity.

Mr Iqbal alleged that he was being victimised for setting up a sports city and a centre for artificial intelligence in his constituency. The people of Pakistan had rejected the ‘selected’ rulers, he added.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2020