Conditional release: Mines assistant director secures bail

Attorney says no ‘solid proof’ that Zaman made illegal appointments

PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench has ordered release on bail of Mir Zaman, the assistant director of the mines and mineral department. Zaman was arrested by the Ehtesab Commission (EC) in an illegal appointments case in July.

“The commission has not brought any solid proof against my client that could prove his involvement in illegal appointments,” Arbab Aziz Ahmad, Zaman’s attorney told the court on Wednesday. “A formal reference of corruption was also not submitted against the detained officer.” The attorney said Zaman was not in the selection committee and he only assisted the higher-ups. “He has not made any posting or transfer in his entire career.”



Aziz said his client was arrested on July 12 on charges of illegal appointments in the provincial mines and mineral department. He informed the court that the EC has obtained all the necessary information from the accused when he was in physical custody. “Now the accused is in Central Prison Peshawar which will serve no one’s purpose.”

The EC opposed the bail, on grounds of the scope of the case which is currently under investigation. Some high-ranking officials, including former mines and minerals minister Ziaullah Afridi had been arrested in a case of similar nature.

After hearing arguments from both sides, a division bench of Justice Nisar Hussain Khan and Justice Irshad Qaiser ordered the release of the assistant director but on the condition of a Rs1 million bail bond and two personal sureties.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th,  2015.