BANNU: The Peshawar High Court’s Bannu Bench on Tuesday ordered the quashing of an FIR registered by the anti-corruption establishment (ACE) against a former Islamabad district and sessions judge, Humayun Dilawar, and his brother accusing their family of illegally transferring land for a housing scheme in Bannu.

Justice Tariq Khan Afridi and Justice Sabitullah Khan accepted a petition jointly filed by Judge Dilawar and his brother, Sadiq Dilawar, after hearing extensive arguments by both sides.

Initially, the petition was jointly filed by them and their father, Dilawar Khan, in Sept 2024. The main petitioner, Dilawar Khan, died a few weeks ago during pendency of the petition.

The petitioners claimed that the impugned FIR was registered on Sept 9, 2024, by the anti-corruption police station, Bannu, on the directions of the PTI’s provincial government allegedly in reaction to the conviction of the party’s founder, Imran Khan, and his wife, Bushra Bibi, by Judge Dilawar in the Toshakhana case.

Senior lawyer Sawal Nazir Khan appeared for the petitioners and argued that the ACE allegations against the petitioners were baseless and based on malafide intentions.

He argued that the land in question had been owned by the late Dilawar Khan since 1969.

The counsel argued that under the ACE Rules, 1999, while initiating an open inquiry the permission of the province’s chief secretary was mandatory against an officer of BPS-19 and above. Similarly, an FIR could be only registered against an officer of BPS-19 and above with the permission of the chief secretary.

He argued that in the present case, neither for the starting of the inquiry nor for registration of the FIR, assent of the chief secretary was sought despite the fact that the petitioner Humayun Dilawar was serving in Grade-20 at that time.

Mr Nazir contended that the present petitioners had no role in the so-called transfer of the said land.

He termed the FIR’s registration a deliberate campaign of humiliation, including bullying of school-going children.

The state counsel contended that the FIR was registered over illegal land transfer related to the Central Provincial Elite Community Residencia (CPEC Residencia), a housing society in Bannu.

On Aug 5, 2023, Mr Dilawar had convicted Imran Khan for concealing the details of Toshakhana gifts from his assets declaration and sentenced him to three years in prison.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2026