PESHAWAR, March 21: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday summoned provincial science and technology minister Ayub Ashari over the alleged manhandling of a government official.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Mian Fasihul Mulk asked the minister to show up on April 12 and explain his position on the incident.

The summons was issued on a complaint filed with the court’s Human Rights Cell by Sanaullah Khan, project director of Early Recovery of Agriculture and Livelihood Project for Malakand, a component of Provincial Disaster Management Authority.

Mr Sanaullah appeared before the court and said he had informed his bosses about the science and technology minister’s misconduct but action against him was awaited.

He said on February 25, the minister’s personal assistant called him and sought delivery of different fruit samplings prompting him to ask the relevant official to do the needful if rules allowed it.

The officer said the minister later telephoned him but since he was away, conversation couldn’t take place to the annoyance of the minister, who, after some days, stormed his office along with his personal assistant, locked the door from inside, hurled abuses on him, slapped across his face and pointed a gun at him.

He said the incident occurred on Saturday and he informed his bosses about it after weekend but to no avail.

The bench observed that if the minister had really acted in that manner, he overstepped his powers and that he shouldn’t have behaved in such a manner.

Meanwhile, a bench of the high court comprising Justice Attaullah Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth issued a notice to former commandant of Frontier Constabulary Malik Naveed Khan and three others over an appeal filed by National Accountability Bureau against their acquittal by the trial court in a case of alleged illegal appointments.

Deputy prosecutor general of NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mohammad Jamil told the court that the trial court had overlooked several important points in the case acquitting the four accused.

On October 10 last year, an accountability court acquitted the four accused, Malik Naveed, deputy commandant Ghaniur Rehman Wazir, district officer of FC Mohammad Shoaib and ATO Hamid Hassan.

NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had charged Mr Naveed, who is also a former inspector general of police of carrying out illegal recruitment in FC in connivance with the other accused when he was its commandant.

In the reference, NAB, KP, said an advertisement was published in newspapers on May 28, 2006, for FC recruitments. It said the recruitment committee, after conducting interviews, recommended 776 candidates and placed 183 on the ‘reserve list’.

NAB said the commandant while issuing the enlistment order appointed 1,246 candidates but only 750 of them were recommended by the committee. It insisted appointment of the rest was illegal. It said the FC commandant later issued another letter on November 25, 2006, ordering recruitment of additional 217 candidates without advertising vacancies and even without conducting test and interview. — Bureau Report