Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal released from Adiala Jail

Hundreds of workers welcome PML-N central leaders

RAWALPINDI: Hundreds of PML-N workers swarmed outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail to welcome the former ruling party’s central leaders – Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Ahsan Iqbal – who were released from the prison on Wednesday evening, a day after a high court granted them post arrest bails.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday gave bail to former prime minister Abbasi and former interior minister Iqbal, who had been in judicial custody for past several months for investigations into separate cases of alleged graft.

The country’s top accountability watchdog – the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) – arrested Abbasi in July last year. NAB had alleged irregularities in a liquefied petroleum gas (LGP) contract that Abbasi signed with Qatar during the last PML-N government in his capacity as petroleum minister.

Ahsan Iqbal was arrested in December last year over alleged irregularities in a sports complex constructed in the PML-N leader’s hometown of Narowal. Both the PML-N leader moved the IHC after an accountability court in Islamabad rejected their post arrest bail pleas.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal secure bail from IHC

A division bench of the IHC, headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah and comprising Justice Lubna Saleem Pervaiz, on Tuesday granted them bail on submission of surety bonds of Rs10 million each.

On Wednesday evening, the PML-N leader Tariq Fazl Chaudhry and a team of lawyers arrived at the jail with release order of the two leaders. When Abbasi and Iqbal emerged from the jail gate at around 5pm, the PML-N activists greeted them with loud slogans.

The workers had also set up camps on the road from the jail to Khetcheri area. The activists showered rose petals on the convoy returning from the jail. Abbasi and Iqbal also waved victory signs from the open sunroof of the vehicle in response to the slogans and cheers.