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ISLAMABAD: The parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will seek action against the former Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) head for ‘implicating’ Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah in a drugs’ case , the committee’s chairman warned on Tuesday.
The PAC, which is an oversight body on the use of government’s funds, also sought a report from the Ministry of Narcotics Control about the case made against the interior minister.
PAC Chairman Noor Alam Khan warned that the committee would write to Army Chief General Asim Munir for action against former ANF Director General Maj Gen Arif Malik if the report found the case to be fabricated.
He added the committee would seek action even if the officer retired from the service.
PAC member Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed said that in a civilised country, if a uniformed officer was found to be lying and misleading people, he would be court-martialed. He termed the case false, concocted and politically motivated.
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He further said the allegations levelled against Mr Sanaullah were found to be false during the trial.
The committee noted that the interior minister was ‘wrongly implicated’ in the case.
Secretary Narcotics Division Humaira Ahmed told the PAC that the case was registered on the basis of certain information and requested to defer the matter till the next date to give her time to respond.
The PAC directed the ministry to submit a report on the case and whether any action was against the officers responsible for ‘implicating’ a lawmaker.
Mr Sanaullah, who was then in opposition, was arrested in July 2019 by the Anti-Narcotics Force while he was travelling from Faisalabad to Lahore.
Later, while speaking at a news conference, the then interior minister Sheharyar Khan Afridi and Maj Gen Malik said the PML-N leader had 15kg heroin in his possession.
In December 2022, a special court in Lahore acquitted Mr Sanaullah and five other accused in this case.
The PAC meeting also examined irregularities in the financial affairs of the Islamabad Club.
The management told the committee that the club was suffering annual losses of Rs50million.
A detailed discussion on the club’s finances has been put off till next week.
Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2023
