PESHAWAR, June 1: The prosecution submitted additional documents before an accountability court here on Saturday during the trial of former NWFP chief minister Aftab Sherpao, ex-senator Haji Gul Sher and others in the famous Ring Road land acquisition case.
The defence objected to the submission of additional documents on the ground that the documents pertaining to mutations of lands purchased for the Ring Road were not part of the original reference and at this stage of the trial it could not be submitted.
The court, presided over by Said Maroof Khan, directed the defence to furnish its objections in written form. The court fixed June 6 for next hearing. Zaffar Abbas Zaidi appeared for Aftab Sherpao and Abdul Sattar Khan represented Gul Sher and other accused.
Except the present case, accused Aftab Sherpao has already been acquitted in two other references pending against him when he was arrested in January last on his return from the UK. The accountability court had earlier turned down his plea for his acquittal before the conclusion of the trial.
A single bench of the Peshawar High Court, comprising Justice Shahjehan Khan, will take up for hearing his bail application on Monday. In that petition he has requested the court to release him on bail as he had no concern with the Ring Road land acquisition. He claimed that he was not the chief minister of the province when the award was announced for purchase of land for the Ring Road.
Five of the accused are absconders in the Ring Road case. They are: former provincial minister Habibullah Kundi, three brothers of Gul Sher — Haji Khatam Gul, Jam Sher and Juma Sher — and a former land acquisition collector, Syed Ayub Shah. All the five have already been sentenced in absentia to three years rigorous imprisonment.
The arrested accused were charged of inflicting a loss of Rs310.067 million to the exchequer in connivance with the five absconding accused. The charge sheet against them says that they had fraudulently and dishonestly got fixed compensation of land situated in Mahal Lala Ahmad and village Saloo, Tehsil Peshawar, at inflated and exorbitant rates.
Meanwhile, Sherpao has dispelled the impression of any secret meeting with the NWFP chief secretary and provincial Inspector General of Prisons inside the prison, saying that both the officials were on “routine visit” to the prison.
He told the newsmen at the accountability court premises that as the provincial government had been shifting the central prison from Peshawar, the officials visited the prison and as he was returning back from his routine court hearing he met them “by the way.”
Sherpao said the politicians should show some sagacity during this crucial hour when the country was facing serious threat on its eastern border. He added that all the political forces and masses should join hands and strengthen the country so that any aggression by the enemy country could be countered.
About political alliances, he said once he was out of prison he would decide these matters. “In politics you can join hands with like-minded groups and parties,” he added.