Tag: Narowal Sports Complex

  • ‘Khan has created hatred among people because of his chor, daku narrative’: Ahsan Iqbal

    ‘Khan has created hatred among people because of his chor, daku narrative’: Ahsan Iqbal

    Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said that Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, has built up a narrative of chor and daku (thieves and bandits) which has created hatred among the people.

    Talking to Geo News’ programme “Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath” on Wednesday, the minister said that Khan has multiple times raised slogans and accusations of bandits and robbers against him. He said that his reputation was destroyed however after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ruled in his favour, he is now free of all charges.

    On the show, Iqbal also recalled an incident where PTI supporters harassed him and hurled accusations of ‘chor chor’ (thief) at him. The minister said: “They did it because of Khan’s narrative against me.”

    High Court gives a clean shit to Iqbal

    IHC acquitted Ahsan Iqbal in a reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), accusing Iqbal of misusing authority by funding a provincial government project Narowal Sports City.

    During the hearing on Wednesday, NAB’s Additional Prosecutor General Jahanzeb Khan Bharwana was absent. The court asked the NAB investigator to outline where the alleged corruption had taken place, to which the official said that Bharwana was to present his arguments but he was not present in the court.

    When NAB asked for an adjournment, IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah denied the request.

    It came to light that NAB started the proceedings based on a report published in a newspaper. Justice Minallah then inquired about the newspaper on the basis of which the case was registered. NAB officials identified the paper as Metrowatch.

    The judge further inquired about the details of the newspaper, and what its report stated, and instructed the official to read it out loud.

    “Did the NAB chairman check the accuracy of the facts? A case of corruption related to a public welfare project was started on this basis?” the chief justice questioned incredulously.

    Justice Minallah said that if the case was initiated on the basis of a Metrowatch report then why was the person responsible for restarting the project in 2009 not arrested? He noted that Iqbal was not even a public officeholder at the time.

    Subsequently, the court dismissed the case against Iqbal.

    In 2019, Iqbal was arrested by NAB and remained in custody for two months.

    In April, Iqbal filed a petition in the high court, alleging that NAB had filed the reference against him as part of the then-ruling PTI’s campaign to victimise political opponents.

  • PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal accidentally arrives at accountability court, sent back home

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former federal minister Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday accidentally arrived at an accountability court in Islamabad, from where he was sent back home by court staff.

    As per the details, the PML-N stalwart, against whom the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has filed a reference over alleged corruption in the Narowal Sport City project, is to appear before the court tomorrow (Wednesday).

    He, however, mistakenly arrived at the court a day earlier and was informed that his hearing wasn’t until a day later, after which he returned back home.

    Reacting to The Current‘s report on Twitter, Iqbal said:

    Iqbal was earlier also arrested in connection to the probe into the sports complex built in his hometown.

    Construction of the complex, which includes a cricket stadium, gymnasium, squash and hockey ground, began in 2009 when Iqbal was in the opposition. But work picked up pace when the PML-N came to power in the 2013 election. That year, Iqbal was appointed the minister for planning and development.

    Below is the charge sheet against the politician from December last year:

    • Illegally increasing the cost of the Narowal Sports City complex from Rs35.410 million to Rs97.520 million, without approval from the Planning Commission’s Central Development Working Party (CDWP). Ahsan, adds NAB, was the minister of planning and development and the deputy chairman of the CDWP at the time. Rather than taking the project to the CDWP, he instead approved it on his own.

    • Iqbal initiated the project without a feasibility study, which was in violation of the development manual of the Planning Commission.

    • After the 18th Amendment, the project was devolved to the Punjab government in 2012 to be completed with its own resources. Yet, reads the charge sheet, funds were taken from the federal government to bankroll the complex. Iqbal, it adds, “further enhanced the scope of the project without any demand from the provincial government”.