Bring ‘video’ evidence to court, Sanaullah tells govt

Says his legal team won’t accept indictment without footage

LAHORE: PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah on Saturday demanded that the government should submit the video evidence of his involvement in drugs smuggling to the court if it actually existed.

“My lawyer will not accept the indictment until the video which [Minister of State of Narcotics Control] Shehryar Khan Afridi and the ANF [Anti-Narcotics Force] DG had claimed showed me handing over heroin [to the authorities] is presented before the court,” the former Punjab law minister told reporters outside an anti-narcotics court after a hearing of the narcotics possession case against him.

During the hearing, the ANF filed a challan against the Sanaullah. The court later adjourned the hearing till Jan 18.

Rana Sanaullah, who is the president of the PML-N’s Punjab chapter, was arrested by the ANF in July this year for allegedly possessing a sizeable quantity of narcotics.

Afridi, at a news conference with ANF DG Major General Arif Malik, had maintained that 15 kilogrammes of heroin were recovered from Sanaullah’s possession and there was footage which would be submitted to the court as evidence.

However, the PML-N leader was granted bail by the Lahore last month. Frustrated over the media repeatedly asking him about the about the video of the arrest, Afridi made matters more complicated for himself by saying there was a difference between footage and a video.

“The case cannot proceed further until the footage that the minister spoke about is presented before the court,” Sanaullah maintained.

“The prosecution has told the court that there is no video but to deceive the public it was claimed that there was footage [to be used as evidence]. The real video will expose them.”

The PML-N leader said PTI leaders had claimed that even Prime Minister Imran Khan had seen the video.

“Now they will have to bring that footage to the court.”

Talking about former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s message to the party on the amendments to the Army Act, Sanaullah said it was unwise to proceed with the matter in such haste and it was necessary to follow the parliamentary procedure.

“Mian Nawaz Sharif’s message is a democratic one and it shows that he respects or all political parties,” he added.