Aitzaz Ahsan slams NAB for arresting Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman

Senior Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan on Monday said “NAB has its sights set on Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and wishes to bring him down”.

The PPP leader, while speaking during a current affairs show on 92 news, said he failed to understand “what NAB seeks to accomplish in doing any of this”. 

The anti-graft watchdog had on March 12 arrested MSR in connection with property allegedly bought illegally from a government entity more than 34 years ago.

Ahsan, bringing his legal expertise to the discussion, said that even a person facing murder charges after a period of more than 20 years “cannot be denied bail by the court”.

Meanwhile, Jang Geo Editor-in-Chief remains in jail on judicial remand after the court rejected his bail pleas.

"It is a [case] that has been built on [a property that was brought] 34 years ago. The court cannot reject bail even in a 34-year-old murder case," the PPP leader said.

Ahsan said that if a First Information Report of a murder case was registered 34 years after it took place, the suspect will be given bail. 

The PPP stalwart said that NAB was showing its “ugly face” by arresting MSR.

“The case is of 1986 and NAB has come into existence 20 years ago,” he said, expressing concerns over NAB’s intentions in arresting MSR.

Arrest on trumped-up charges

MSR was arrested by NAB on March 12 on trumped-up charges relating to property purchased more than three decades ago. A petition was filed against the arrest.

An accountability court had then extended his physical remand, after which a separate petition was filed against the extension. The petition had argued that no reason was provided by the court for the extension in remand.

The original petition, filed by MSR’s wife Shahina Shakil, had stated that MSR had been cooperating with officials and the arrest was a flagrant violation of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of the accountability watchdog.

The petition had requested that the court declare the arrest and abuse of the NAB chairman's authority, as the arrest was made while the case was still in the process of verification.