NPF Housing scam: Move afoot to implicate Zafar Qureshi

DIG Shahid Iqbal given a two-year contract as Director Housing NPF to get the job ‘done’ .

LAHORE:

In violation of the Supreme Court verdict pertaining to the rehiring of retired government officials, the federal government awarded a two-year contract to Deputy Inspector-General Shahid Iqbal.

Iqbal, who has now been posted as the National Police Foundation (NFP) Director Housing, has been given the task of investigating fresh allegations against the suspended NPF Managing Director (MD) Zafar Ahmed Qureshi, The Express Tribune learnt on Monday.

Iqbal had earlier served at the post of NPF Director Housing while serving as DIG police but an additional one-year contract after his retirement was terminated after the Supreme Court’s verdict a couple of months ago. Now, despite being in violation of the SC verdict and having been refused an extension on his contract by the Establishment Division, the Interior Ministry has given him the ‘special task’ of falsely implicating Zafar Qureshi, The Express Tribune learnt.

Closely linked to the Pakistan Peoples Party, Iqbal was also posted as DIG Operation Lahore during Salman Taseer’s tenure as Punjab governor but was
removed soon after Taseer’s assassination with his
services handed back to the federal government by Punjab.

Zafar Ahmed Qureshi is now being charged for
allegedly ‘obliging’ PML-N MNA Aqeel Anjum by surrendering the government
land measuring 9.1 acres (worth millions) in his favour.

Qureshi, whose removal from the FIA brought the superior judiciary and the government at loggerheads, had investigated the National Police Foundation (NPF) land scam as its managing director.

The Interior Ministry verifying Qureshi’s findings in the NPF land scam has stated that he put up the total liability against Anjum of 15.7 acres instead of 25 acres and thus made an attempt to favour the PML-N parliamentarian, causing a huge financial loss to the national exchequer.

“The government is trying to malign Qureshi”, an official said on the condition of anonymity, adding that during the administration committee meeting the figure of 15.7 acres was quoted  on the list of allegations against Qureshi.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 2^nd, 2011.