ANF Court acquits Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan & five co-accused in narcotics recovery case
LAHORE, Dec 10, (SABAH): A special court of the ANF in Lahore acquitted Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan and five co-accused in a narcotics case filed against him during the tenure of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in 2019. The court has issued the short order and detailed order will be issued later on.
Earlier on Saturday, Rana Sanaullah and five other co-accused filed a plea seeking acquittal from an alleged drug smuggling case registered with the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) and argued that the prosecution could provide no evidence to establish the case against them. The petition was filed by the counsel of Rana Sanaullah Khan, Farhad Ali Shah Advocate.
The petitioners contended that the judicial file does not have any incriminating piece of evidence against them and emphasised that the story narrated in the first information report (FIR) was ‘concocted and fabricated’.
They further informed the court that nothing was recovered from the officials who intercepted them.
The interior minister and other petitioners also claimed that this was a case of political victimisation. They maintained that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry had categorically admitted that this case was not lodged during deposed premier Imran Khan’s government and that the case was filed by ‘influential people’ within the country.
They further informed the court that the footage of Safe City cameras was also available on the case file, which negated the version of the prosecution. They furthered that the prosecution failed to establish this case so the proceedings against the petitioners were an abuse of the process of law.
The plea stated that the petitioners should be acquitted on the basis of benefit of the doubt as doubt is sufficient in this case for the acquittal of the accused.
It further claimed that the prosecution witnesses of the case did not support the version of the complainant.
The petitioners requested that their acquittal application be admitted and they be exonerated from the charge.
During the hearing ANF Assistant Director Imtiaz Ahmed and Inspector Ehsaan Azam dismissed the charges against Rana Sanaullah, declaring them “wrong”.
In their affidavits submitted in court the officials said that they were present at the Ravi Toll Plaza on July 1, 2019, when Rana Sanaullah was arrested. “We never saw any sort of drugs being recovered from the scene,” they stated.
Subsequently, the court acquitted the interior minister and all the other people named in the case.
Rana Sanaullah was arrested 1st July 2019 by the ANF Lahore team while he was traveling from Faisalabad to Lahore near the Ravi Toll Plaza on the motorway. A first information report was lodged under Section 9(C) of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act 1997, which carries the death penalty or life imprisonment or a jail term that may extend to 14 years, along with a fine up to Rs1 million.
It stated that the force had received information that Rana Sanaullah was allegedly involved in drug trafficking and was taking heroin to Lahore. He was twice denied bail by the trial court but the Lahore High Court released him on Dec 24, 2019.
Meanwhile Interior Minister Rana Sanauallah on Saturday rubbished the claims that the cases against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Senator Azam Swati were a part of “political revenge”, saying that Swati did not target the government but two institutions.
The interior minister said the government has got nothing to do with the cases against Swati. Rana Sanaullah said that the senator maligned the army and judiciary and not the government.
“If we wanted to frame [PTI leaders] in court cases or treat them the way they treated us, we would have had them charged with the possession of heroin,” he said.
The interior minister added that the cases are being filed against them in accordance with the law. “Recently, the Balochistan High Court quashed cases against him. On the other hand, we have fought our cases for years,” he said.
Moving on to the alleged audio leak of former finance minister Shaukat Tarin, Rana Sanaullah said that the former finance czar “talked about sabotaging” the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. “They don’t have the power so they are bent on destroying the country’s economy,” he said.
“Why shouldn’t the cases against the members of the coalition government be closed since they are being closed after litigation?” he asked.
Referring to the defamation case against the UK paper related to corruption allegations against Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Rana Sanaullah said that the newspaper Daily Mail accepted its mistake and apologised for it. He claimed that the newspaper made that mistake at former federal minister Shahzad Akbar’s behest.
“Imran Khan leveled false allegations against others while he himself was involved in corruption,” the minister alleged, adding that they should also apologise to the nation for false cases.
Talking about the talks between the incumbent government and the Opposition, Rana Sanaullah said that the government is ready for “unconditional talks”. He added that President Dr. Arif Alvi is trying to play a part between the two parties.
“This was also done before by Parvez Khan Khattak, Asad Qaiser, Fawad Chaudhry, and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, however, Imran Khan did not listen to them,” said the minister.
When asked about PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s return, the interior minister said that the party has requested him to be present in Pakistan for the next election campaign, and the former prime minister has accepted it.
Rana Sanaullah expressed hope that the “institution” will stand by its commitment to stay “apolitical”. “Army is an organised institution where an individual’s policy doesn’t work,” the federal minister said during the media talk in Lahore. He said that it was the institution’s decision that the army would stay “apolitical”. “It was the institution’s policy and it still is,” he added.
Rana Sanaullah asserted that it was the right of his party to get all false cases quashed. “Even the cases against our leadership lodged abroad are being dismissed,” he said. The minister called out PTI chief Imran Khan, claiming he wanted political instability in the country for his own mileage.