Islamabad, December 19: In the first fallout of the Supreme Court ruling striking down the controversial graft amnesty law, arrest warrants were on Friday issued against Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar was barred from going abroad on an official visit.
The National Accountability Bureau, Pakistan’s main anti-corruption agency, also banned 250 other officials from going abroad following the order striking down the graft amnesty which benefited over 8,000 politicians and officials.
Judge Mir Muhammad Shaikh of the accountability or anti-corruption court in Karachi issued the arrest warrants against Malik in connection with two graft cases that were closed under the National Reconciliation Ordinance.
The cases relate to alleged misuse of authority and receipt of two cars for ordering a contract to a firm.
The apex court declared the NRO void on Wednesday and directed authorities to reopen corruption and criminal cases against over 8,000 people that were quashed under the law.
The NAB has filed a petition in an anti-corruption court in Rawalpindi for reviving cases against 19 people, including the Interior Minister, that were withdrawn under NRO.
The court’s order came hours after Mukhtar, who was leaving for China on an official visit, was barred from boarding a PIA flight late last night.
Chaudhry said his name was on an “exit list” restricting travel and that federal investigation authorities said he cannot leave.
Another anti-corruption court in Lahore on Friday issued notices to three NRO beneficiaries, including ruling Pakistan People’s Party secretary general Jahangir Badr, who is a close aide of party chief and President Asif Ali Zardari.
The notices were served after the National Accountability Bureau filed a petition in the court in Lahore against 32 beneficiaries of the NRO, including Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar and Zardari’s mother-in-law Nusrat Bhutto.
The court is expected to serve notices to the 29 others named in the petition soon. Offices of NAB across Pakistan have taken steps to revive cases that were quashed under NRO following the apex court’s verdict.
President Asif Ali Zardari and several of his key ministers are among those who benefited from the amnesty. Zardari claims that he is protected by constitutional immunity from any criminal prosecution, but the opposition PML-N has challenged his eligibility to continue to hold office.
NAB also asked the interior ministry to place the names of all beneficiaries of NRO on the “Exit Control List”, a move that will bar them from travelling out of Pakistan.
A NAB spokesman said 248 people had been included in the Exit List so far.
Meanwhile, Geo News channel reported that the Attorney General’s office has sought advice from the federal law ministry on implementing the apex court’s order to revive cases in Swiss courts against Zardari.
The cases, relating to allegations that Zardari and his slain wife, former premier Benazir Bhutto, stashed millions of dollars in kickbacks in Swiss bank accounts, were closed under NRO on the directions of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
Geo News channel quoted its sources as saying that the Attorney General’s office had written to the Law Secretary seeking advice on the steps to be taken to implement the Supreme Court’s verdict.
Authorities have so far not taken any step to revive cases against Zardari, who enjoys immunity from prosecution by virtue of holding the post of President.
Apparently unfazed by the ruling, Zardari had said he was ready to face “all challenges.”
Zardari, chief of ruling Pakistan People’s Party, said he is ready to “face all the challenges” created by the apex court’s verdict in the same way as PPP founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benazir, slain former premier, had tackled crises.
The beleaguered President told a delegation of journalists from the Hyderabad Press Club during a meeting in the presidency yesterday that he wants to avoid any political confrontation as it could be harmful for Pakistan.
He said he wants to save Pakistan “from turning into another Afghanistan.”
-PTI