Tag: Hanif Abbasi

  • PML-N is in government due to PPP, says Hassan Murtaza

    PML-N is in government due to PPP, says Hassan Murtaza

    Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) central Punjab’s General Secretary Hassan Mutaza said on Friday that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is in power due to the support of his party, adding that 45 PPP MNAs are the government’s lifeline.

    In a video statement, the PPP leader addressed Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif: “If it were not for the PPP, you wouldn’t have been in the Prime Minister’s House; rather, you would have been in Adiala jail.”

    By minusing PPP, all of PML-N will land in jail, Murtaza said.

    Earlier, PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi said in an interview that it is compulsory for PPP to be an ally of government, but not for his party.

    However, Hassan Murtaza said that Hanif Abbasi should stop doing politics of hate and urged people within the PML-N to discourage people like Hanif Abbasi.

  • Court nullifies lifetime imprisonment of  PML-N’s Hanif Abbasi in ephedrine quota case

    Court nullifies lifetime imprisonment of  PML-N’s Hanif Abbasi in ephedrine quota case

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) has discharged Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi in the ephedrine quota case, as well as nullifying his lifetime sentence.

    A two-member bench announced the decision on the PML-N leader’s appeal against the sentence.

    In the last hearing, Justice Aalia Neelum and Justice Asjad Javed Ghural had reserved the judgement after hearing arguments from lawyers.

    Hanif Abbasi was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court on July 21, just a few days before 2018 general elections for control of narcotics substance (CNS).

    In 2012, he and his co-accused were charged by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) for misusing 500kg of ephedrine, citing Sections 9-C, 14, and 15 of the Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) Act. He was contesting election in NA-60, Rawalpindi against main rival, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad of Awami Muslim League. However, he was disqualified after being found guilty in the case.

    The PML-N leader said in an appeal that the sentence was politically motivated, and there were eight suspects in case, but only the appellant got convicted. It was also mentioned in the appeal that the appellant didn’t misuse the ephedrine quota but the trial court ignored this fact and announced its decision.   

    “I was kept away from two elections (due to the case) and my daughter was also kicked out of her job,” Abbasi claimed. He also shared that his younger brother was kept in illegal confinement for 14 days.

    “If Sheikh Rashid contests the election, then the competition will be in the polls,” said Abbasi.

  • PML-N’s Hanif Abbasi resigns after court stops him from working

    PML-N’s Hanif Abbasi resigns after court stops him from working

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Hanif Abbasi resigned from his post as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) after Islamabad High Court (IHC) had stopped him “temporarily” from performing his duties.

    In a letter, the former federal minister addressed PM Shehbaz Sharif and said that he would be “unable to perform at present” and requested the premier to accept his resignation while thanking him for the opportunity.

    Read more- PML-N’s Hanif Abbasi has fled country, media reports claim

    IHC stopped Abbasi from working as SAPM

    Last month, IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah stopped Abbasi from working, saying that “a person convicted in any case is ineligible to hold any public office in the country.”

    He issued the directives while hearing a petition filed by former Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, who challenged Abbasi’s appointment as SAPM on grounds of his 2018 conviction in an ephedrine case.

    During the hearing, Hanif Abbasi’s counsel Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon argued that the post of SAPM is not similar to other public offices.

    Justice Minallah said he hoped Abbasi would not use public office till the next hearing.

    “The SAPM’s job is to advise the prime minister, he can do that without a notification as well,” he observed.

  • PML-N’s Hanif Abbasi has fled country, media reports claim

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi, who was handed life imprisonment in the ephedrine case last year, has reportedly left the country and is currently residing in the United States (US).

    According to media reports, Abbasi is living with a former PML-N leader at his residence in Alexandria, Virginia and plans to stay out of the country “until the situation in Pakistan improves”.

    A trial court had sentenced Abbasi to life in prison back in July 2018, after he was found guilty of illegally selling 500kg of ephedrine — a medication and stimulant used to prevent low blood pressure during spinal anesthesia — to narcotics smugglers.

    The ephedrine case surfaced in March 2011 when then federal minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin told the National Assembly that the government will investigate the alleged allocation of a quota for the production of 9,000kg of ephedrine to two pharmaceutical companies — Berlex Lab International and Danas Pharmaceutical Limited.

    According to the rules, a company cannot be allocated a production quota of more than 500kg of the drug, a limit fixed by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).

    The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) had eventually registered a case in June 2012 against nine suspects, including Abbasi. He was accused of obtaining the controlled chemical for his company, Gray Pharmaceutical, in 2010.

    However, instead of using it for medicinal purposes, Abbasi sold it on to narcotics smugglers. A fine of Rs1 million was imposed on the PML-N leader along with the life sentence. Seven other accused were acquitted in the case.

    Abbasi’s sentence was suspended by the Lahore High Court (LHC) in April this year.