SHC extends Nisar Khuhro’s protective bail in NAB’s wheat inquiry

The Sindh High Court on Thursday extended the interim pre-arrest bail of Pakistan Peoples Party leader and chief minister’s adviser on works and services Nisar Ahmed Khuhro in a National Accountability Bureau’s inquiry pertaining to charges of misuse of authority as provincial food minister.

Khuhro, who is also a former speaker of the Sindh Assembly as well as the food minster, moved the court for obtaining protective pre-arrest bail in connection with the NAB inquiry against him and other food department officials with regard to the misuse of authority.

NAB had sent a call-up notice to him for his explanation as provincial food minister with regard to the lifting of wheat by flour mills in the Ghotki district against guarantees of postdated cheques on the recommendations of food department officials for the crop year 2016-17 contrary to the approval by the chief minister.

The NAB counsel informed the court that the inquiry against the petitioner was at the investigation agency, and sought time to submit a progress report. A division bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro, extended the interim pre-arrest bail of the petitioner till September 26.

The petitioner’s counsel had earlier submitted that Khuhro had already been granted protective bail by the court in respect of three call-up notices issued by the NAB Sukkur regarding some inquiries in the food department. He submitted that the petitioner as provincial minister saw the urgency in the requirement to lift wheat which he did not go beyond the approved quantity of wheat 0.3 metric tons allowed by the chief minister.

He further said that the petitioner did not commit any unlawful act and saved the exchequer from extra markups and expenditure borne by the department in protecting wheat stocks like covering the stock lying in the open sky and expenditure of fumigation.

Missing child case

The Sindh High Court directed the investigation officer to make all-out efforts for the recovery of a six-year-old boy who was allegedly kidnapped from the Civil Hospital three years back.

Hearing a petition of Saba against the disappearance of her boy, Noman, from the Civil Hospital’s children ward on May 28, 2018, a division bench, headed by Justice SalahuddinPanhwar, directed the investigation officer to visit orphanage centres to investigate the issue by different angles.

The investigation officer submitted that police had made all efforts for the recovery of the missing child and also taken statements of the petitioner and other relevant persons, besides interrogating a woman who had been working in the hospital. The court directed the investigation officer to submit the progress report by October 13.

The petitioner said that her child went missing from the hospital and his whereabouts were still unknown. The medical superintendant of the Civil Hospital had earlier submitted in his report that the CCTV camera of the OPD ward was not functional at the time of the incident.