DLP Report
PESHAWAR
The National Accountability Bureau Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (NAB-KP) on Tuesday summoned five close associates of Maulana Fazlur Rehman with the ongoing inquiry against the Jamiat Ulema Islam Fazal (JUI-F) chief and chairman Pakstan Democratic Movement (PDM) into assets beyond means.
The anti-graft body issued call-up notices to people including Mufti Abrar Ahmed and Abdur Rauf – maternal uncle of Fazl – as, according to the notice issued by NAB, they would be investigated about the assets owned by the JUI-F chief.
Mufti Abrar is Fazl’s spokesperson while Abrar Ali Shah, Jalal Khan and Din Muhammad are the other three persons who have been summoned in this connection. NAB-KP had issued notices to two other persons in the recent weeks; however, they could not join the probe because of not receiving the call up summons.
Earlier in September, the anti-graft body had announced that an inquiry against the JUI-F chief was in progress – a move that has been described as pressure tactics by the opposition parties.
When reports appeared in the media, citing the notice, that Fazl had been summoned to the NAB office in Peshawar on October 1, a JUI-F leader had warned that hundreds of thousands of party workers would accompany their leader. However, the officials of the NAB later backtracked on the issue.
On Monday, the PDM leaders signed a declaration and gave a deadline to Prime Minister Imran Khan to step down by January 31, after which they would announce a long march on February 1.
Addressing a joint press conference after a PDM meeting, Fazl, who is also the opposition alliance’s president, said, “In case the government does not step down the date of the long march will be announced on February 1. “We ask the people of Pakistan to start preparations for the long march from today.”
“Imran Khan has time till Jan 31 to resign (from the office). He is under pressure, that is why he is talking about NRO,” he added.
The JUI-F provincial spokesman Jalil Jan, while talking to Lead Pakistan, termed the NAB call up notices to Maulana close associates a routine activity purely based on political victimization.
He said that party has nothing to do with people who have been summoned by NAB for investigation.
