RAWALPINDI, Aug 15: Control of Narcotics Substance (CNS) court of Rawalpindi on Wednesday admitted the bail applications of former director general health Asad Hafeez and the chief executive officer of Cane pharmaceutical for regular hearing and asked the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) to submit complete record of the ephedrine case.

Hafeez, a successor of Dr Rashid Juma who has been declared as an approver in ephedrine case, sought the post-arrest bail on medical grounds. CNS Judge Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry directed the medical officer to submit a certificate regarding the health of former DG by August 17.

Hashim Khan Tareen, chief executive officer of Multan-based Cane Pharmaceutical, told the court that under section 5 of Drug Rules, ephedrine is controlled chemical and not narcotics.

He said his pharmaceutical company had obtained a permit for the import of ephedrine and provided the relevant details to the ANF. He contended that only drug inspector could conduct investigation into the alleged misuse of ephedrine.

The court after issuing notices to the ANF adjourned the hearing till August 17.

According to the ANF investigation, former DG health Hafeez sanctioned allocation and conversion of 2,500 kg ephedrine to two pharmaceutical companies, Berlex and Danas.

ANF’s challan revealed that Hashim was a cousin of Rizwan Khan, the director of Danas pharmaceutical who also became approver in the ephedrine case.

The challan said Rizwan and Hashim prepared the fake manufacturing record of the controlled chemical ephedrine.

Meanwhile, Ameer Mohammad Khan, the Anti-Corruption (AC) Judge of Rawalpindi put off the hearing on an application of commodore (retired) Ilyas, the vice chief executive of Bahria Town.

Commodore Ilyas in his application requested the court for reviewing its order for attachment of the properties of Malik Riaz, his son Ali Riaz and seven other accused allegedly involved in 1,401 kanal land fraud case.

The court clubbed the application with the main land fraud case and would take up the matter on September 3.

Opinion

Editorial

Digital growth
Updated 25 Apr, 2024

Digital growth

Democratising digital development will catalyse a rapid, if not immediate, improvement in human development indicators for the underserved segments of the Pakistani citizenry.
Nikah rights
25 Apr, 2024

Nikah rights

THE Supreme Court recently delivered a judgement championing the rights of women within a marriage. The ruling...
Campus crackdowns
25 Apr, 2024

Campus crackdowns

WHILE most Western governments have either been gladly facilitating Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, or meekly...
Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...