LAHORE: Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) on Saturday arrested former deputy speaker of Punjab Assembly, Dost Muhammad Mazari, in a case of allegedly illegal allotment of 2,500 kanal land in Rajanpur district.

The ACE spokesperson said Mr Mazari was “twice or thrice” to attend the hearing of the illegal allotment of land case, but he did not appear before the investigating team.

She said the former deputy-speaker was taken into custody for investigation.

Dost Mazari was visiting his ailing grandfather and former prime minister Sardar Balakh Sher Mazari in a private hospital where the ACE team arrived and took him into custody.

Later, his cousin Shabab Mazari told the media that Dost was taken into custody by the ACE officials who took him to their headquarters.

Mr Mazari had earned the wrath of his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and its ally PML-Q during election of the Punjab chief minister after Usman Buzdar’s resignation by “siding with the PML-N”.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2022