Peshawar High Court stops arrest of ANP senator Sitara Ayaz

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has stopped the arrest of former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa minister, Senator Sitara Ayaz for allegedly misusing her powers as minister and causing losses to the national exchequer.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Accountability Commission had issued arrest warrants for Ms Ayaz last week over accusations of embezzling Rs2 to Rs2.5 million.

But the high court today stopped the provincial Accountability Commission from arresting the former KP minister, stating that an arrest was unjustified without presenting evidence of the alleged corruption.

Sitara Ayaz, who resides in the Parliament Lodges in Islamabad, has claimed the officials of the Ehtesab Commission were harassing her family. She has alleged that the arrest warrants were issued on orders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government to politically victimise its opponents in the name accountability.