QUETTA, Dec 12: Police arrested Sardar Nisar Ali Hazara, a former provincial minister for education, at Quetta airport on Tuesday evening. According to sources, senior police officer Noor Mohammad took Sardar Nisar Ali Hazara into custody when he arrived from Islamabad. Mr Hazara’s family confirmed his arrest and said that he had been taken to the district jail in Quetta.

The sources said he had been arrested on the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Chief Justice Mr Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, it may be mentioned, had taken notice of the release by the provincial government of several former provincial ministers and bureaucrats convicted and sentenced by accountability courts on corruption charges.

The CJ ordered the officials concerned to arrest such people and produce then before the apex court. Sardar Nisar Ali Hazara was convicted by an accountability court in a corruption case, but he was released on parole.