LAHORE, Sept 30: Justice Saqib Nisar of the Lahore High Court on Monday directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to submit a list of persons whose loans had been written off since 1992.

The judge issued the directive on a writ petition filed by M. D. Tahir, who had questioned the logic of allowing huge write-offs to certain influential people at a time when many others were being prosecuted through the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for defaulting on loans.

SBP officials submitted that they needed time for compiling a detailed report on the subject. The judge directed them to submit a list of write-offs in two weeks and a detailed report later on.

The petitioner submitted that influential people had deprived the national exchequer of around Rs5 billion by acquiring loans that were to be written off later on.

He submitted that the NAB was carrying out a selective accountability by ignoring the government’s favourites and making others pay through the nose.

NOTICE: The ARY Television was issued notice by Justice Saeed Akhtar for telecasting the banned Ibrarul Haq’s song Nach Panjaban Nach despite the singer’s assurance that the word ‘Panjaban’ had been substituted by ‘Majajan’.