PESHAWAR - Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday granted seven-days interim bail to PPP MNA Makhdoom Shahabuddin in ephedrine case.
A day earlier, the ANF, Magistrate, Rawalpindi, Shafqatullah Khan had issued non-bailable arrest warrants in the ephedrine case of Makhdoom Shahabuddin and MNA Ali Musa Gilani, the son of former Premier Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.
A single bench headed by Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan granted the protective pre-arrest bail to the PPP MNA against the two persons surety bonds worth Rs 2 million. The court also directed him to confirm his pre-arrest bail in the concerned special Anti-Narcotics Court in Rawalpindi after seven days. The Chief Justice also directed the PPP leader to appear before the investigation agency ,whenever, he is required irrespective of the fact that whether he was on the slot of Premier or not, because law should take its course.
Shahabuddin was PPP’s candidate for Premiership, however, after the issuance of his pre-arrest bail, withdrew from the race. PHC Chief Justice observed that if Shahabuddin is elected and as Premier appeared before the ANF investigation team in case his pre-arrest bail was not confirmed, then, the government itself and the nation as a whole would feel embarrassment, because under Article 248 (2) only the President and Governors are given protection in the criminal cases not the Prime Minister.
After pre-arrest bail from the High Court, Shahabuddin while talking with media said that the case is of October 10, 2011 and the ANF authorities issued his arrest warrants a day before his election, which showed the malafide intention. Without naming anybody, he said there was some well-calculated conspiracy behind his arrest warrants as they wanted to harm the PPP government and himself. Presidential spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar also accompanied Makhdoom Shahabuddin.