Ephedrine case: PHC grants 7-day protective bail to Shahabuddin

Counsel says Shahabuddin's name was not mentioned in FIR registered at ANF police station in Ephedrine case.

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has accepted the transit bail request of Makhdoom Shahabuddin granting him seven-day protective bail and an opportunity to contest for the premier seat of the parliament.

The bail request was filed after Shahabuddin was nominated in an FIR registered by the Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) at ANF Police Station Rawalpindi in the ephedrine case. His arrest warrant was also issued the same day when he was nominated as Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) candidate for the post of the prime minister.

Routine cases were being heard in the PHC when Barrister Zahoorul Haq, counsel for Shahabuddin, asked Chief Justice (CJ) PHC Dost Muhammad Khan to grant his client transit bail. CJ Khan had earlier refused the bail by saying that the case had not been placed before him.

“How can I give him transit bail? The case is not before me,” CJ Khan said and at the same time issued instructions that a supplementary cause list be prepared to hear the bail request.

After the list was prepared, Haq apprised the court of the FIR registered at the ANF police station, informing the court that his client had not been nominated in the FIR and the media just played up the issue because his client had been nominated for the seat of the prime minister.

“We can give protective bail but only the president and governor are exempted, not the prime minister. What if the court (where the trial would take place) cancels his bail? How embarrassing it would be for a prime minister and the whole nation,” CJ Khan observed.

“He [Shahabuddin] will join the investigation but he only wants to participate in the elections. He will not be absconding. I would advise him to surrender before the court tomorrow,” Haq said and stressed that his client was innocent and that the companies booked for the case had no nexus with his client.

Haq also assured the court that his client, once elected as the prime minister, would not use his office to influence the case and would assist the court during the course of investigation.

The PHC chief justice granted Shahabuddin seven-day protective bail, observing that the arrest warrant may deprive him of his fundamental right to contest the elections.

Addressing the media outside the court room, Shahabuddin said that it all happened just to embarrass the president and the government.

“I have been given protective bail but let me tell you, if I had not been nominated for the premiership, I would not have been nominated in the case,” Shahabuddin said.