Court cancels Dar’s arrest warrant

An Islamabad accountability court cancelled on Friday the arrest warrants issued against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar while hearing an assets beyond means reference against him.

The minister appeared before the court amid tight security, pleading for the permanent cancellation of his arrest warrant.

“Ishaq Dar is now standing before the court,” argued Dar’s counsel Qazi Misbah.
Judge Mohammad Bashir inquired if the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had itself issued arrest warrant against Dar, upon which the NAB investigation officer (IO) Nadir Abbas informed the court that the anti-graft body had, indeed, initially issued the warrant but that they were later suspended.

“The court had issued the warrant only to ensure Ishaq Dar’s attendance,” explained Misbah.

“What is your stance now,” the court inquired, “should the orders be suspended or not?”

On the occasion, the NAB prosecutor also reiterated Misbah’s stance about the purpose of the warrant being to ensure Dar’s attendance in court and supported the cancellation of the warrant.

“A supplementary reference has also been made whereby the indictment will have to be done anew,” the judge observed.

“We will argue on this, the supplementary reference is not applicable,” said Dar’s lawyer. He also added that the finance minister “has to travel outside of the country for a conference”.

The court then granted Dar’s request and cancelled the arrest warrant as it ordered him to submit a bond of Rs1 million.