PESHAWAR, March 9: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court on Thursday gave the Accountability Court a four-month deadline to complete the trial of an accused in the General Post Office corruption case.

Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Fazlur Rehman Khan observed as they took up bail applications of three former employees of the GPO, Peshawar, for hearing.

The accused are GPO’s payment clerk Safdar and schedule clerks Abdul Naseer and Sajid. Riaz Ahmed Khan appeared on behalf of the NAB and informed the court that the accused were being tried in the Accountability Court No2. He requested the court to set aside their bail applications till the completion of the trial.

Neelam Khan and Sardar Hussain appeared on behalf of the accused.

They requested the court to release their clients on bail, adding that they had been languishing in jail for the past eight months.

Two other GPO employees, Yaqoob Khan and Fazle Rabbi, had also been charged in the same case.

However, they did not submit bail applications.

The bench observed that if the Accountability Court could not complete the trial in the next four months, the petitioners could approach the PHC to seek relief.

The accused had been arrested by the NAB on May 6, 2005 on charges of embezzling Rs6.071 million. — APP