NICL scandal: Unbending probe chief earns the ire of powerful politicians
Interior ministry officials try to frame investigator for illegal detention.
LAHORE:
The federal interior ministry is said to be trying to stage-manage a delay in the production of Moonis Elahi before the judicial magistrate so that it could institute a case of illegal detention against the chief of the investigating team probing the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL), Additional Director Zafar Qureshi.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the federal interior ministry was said to have directed the Punjab unit of FIA to produce Moonis Elahi after the civil judge and duty magistrate leave the court premises.
According to the law, Elahi was due before the court after the end of the 14-day physical remand: if the accused is not produced before court in time, the investigating officer faces charges of illegal detention.
Sources say a federal government functionary even tried to shift Moonis Elahi to a NADRA rest house instead of jail, but Qureshi refused to entertain the request forwarded simultaneously by the ministry of interior, director-general FIA and the Punjab home department.
Subsequently, the Punjab unit of FIA sent a letter to these authorities with a request to declare the NADRA rest house a sub-jail citing security and medical concerns.
On March 17, Moonis Elahi’s bail was cancelled by the LHC and he had gone to his home to collect his medicines and clothes. At that time, an influential person is said to have contacted the Chaudhrys and tried to persuade them into hiding Moonis from the FIA “for two or three more days” so that Qureshi could be suspended on charges of negligence, but Chaudhry Pervez Elahi had rejected this proposal, sources said.
Major (retd) Warraich had to return Pakistan from abroad only after the same federal government figure assured former president Pervez Musharraf that he (Warraich) would not be arrested, but Zafar Qureshi refused the orders and arrested Warraich.
Because of this, Qureshi was immediately transferred from the post of the director of FIA in Punjab and a new head of NICL investigation team was appointed. However, the Chief Justice of Pakistan took strict notice and appointed Qureshi the supervisory officer of the NICL investigation.
Moonis Elahi also returned to Pakistan after the same person extended ‘solid assurances’, but Qureshi is said to have refused to entertain “illegal and unjustified wishes of the said personality” regarding Elahi’s arrest.
On March 16, the interior minister sent written orders binding Qureshi to meet the minister at his residence at 10 am in a bid to stop him from appearing in the Lahore High Court in connection with Elahi’s bail, but Qureshi refused to attend the meeting despite mounting pressure by the interior secretary in this regard.
Sources attributed the case registered against Ismail Qureshi, the former secretary of the establishment division and the brother of Zafar Qureshi, to vindictive officials who “just wanted to teach him (Zafar Qureshi) a lesson”.
The sources said that PML-N leadership condemned Qureshi after Dr Tauqeer Shah, the secretary to the chief minister of Punjab, and Rana Maqbool, the then secretary of the Public Prosecution Department, had to appear in an inquiry into a plot to assassinate then LHC chief justice Khwaja Sharif. PML-N insisted that he (Qureshi) was biased.
Qureshi was made an officer on special duty (OSD) by the PML-N and the PML-Q leadership allegedly victimised him and his family members because of his unbending nature. Qureshi refused to comment.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 2nd, 2011.
The federal interior ministry is said to be trying to stage-manage a delay in the production of Moonis Elahi before the judicial magistrate so that it could institute a case of illegal detention against the chief of the investigating team probing the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL), Additional Director Zafar Qureshi.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the federal interior ministry was said to have directed the Punjab unit of FIA to produce Moonis Elahi after the civil judge and duty magistrate leave the court premises.
According to the law, Elahi was due before the court after the end of the 14-day physical remand: if the accused is not produced before court in time, the investigating officer faces charges of illegal detention.
Sources say a federal government functionary even tried to shift Moonis Elahi to a NADRA rest house instead of jail, but Qureshi refused to entertain the request forwarded simultaneously by the ministry of interior, director-general FIA and the Punjab home department.
Subsequently, the Punjab unit of FIA sent a letter to these authorities with a request to declare the NADRA rest house a sub-jail citing security and medical concerns.
On March 17, Moonis Elahi’s bail was cancelled by the LHC and he had gone to his home to collect his medicines and clothes. At that time, an influential person is said to have contacted the Chaudhrys and tried to persuade them into hiding Moonis from the FIA “for two or three more days” so that Qureshi could be suspended on charges of negligence, but Chaudhry Pervez Elahi had rejected this proposal, sources said.
Major (retd) Warraich had to return Pakistan from abroad only after the same federal government figure assured former president Pervez Musharraf that he (Warraich) would not be arrested, but Zafar Qureshi refused the orders and arrested Warraich.
Because of this, Qureshi was immediately transferred from the post of the director of FIA in Punjab and a new head of NICL investigation team was appointed. However, the Chief Justice of Pakistan took strict notice and appointed Qureshi the supervisory officer of the NICL investigation.
Moonis Elahi also returned to Pakistan after the same person extended ‘solid assurances’, but Qureshi is said to have refused to entertain “illegal and unjustified wishes of the said personality” regarding Elahi’s arrest.
On March 16, the interior minister sent written orders binding Qureshi to meet the minister at his residence at 10 am in a bid to stop him from appearing in the Lahore High Court in connection with Elahi’s bail, but Qureshi refused to attend the meeting despite mounting pressure by the interior secretary in this regard.
Sources attributed the case registered against Ismail Qureshi, the former secretary of the establishment division and the brother of Zafar Qureshi, to vindictive officials who “just wanted to teach him (Zafar Qureshi) a lesson”.
The sources said that PML-N leadership condemned Qureshi after Dr Tauqeer Shah, the secretary to the chief minister of Punjab, and Rana Maqbool, the then secretary of the Public Prosecution Department, had to appear in an inquiry into a plot to assassinate then LHC chief justice Khwaja Sharif. PML-N insisted that he (Qureshi) was biased.
Qureshi was made an officer on special duty (OSD) by the PML-N and the PML-Q leadership allegedly victimised him and his family members because of his unbending nature. Qureshi refused to comment.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 2nd, 2011.