An antiterrorism court (ATC) on Thursday remanded Dr Asim for 90 days to Rangers custody. The former federal minister was presented in ATC-III by the Rangers today who informed the court that Dr Asim has been placed under a 90-day preventive detention under Section 11-EEEE of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.Court sources told Dawn that the Rangers contended that they have credible information regarding Dr Asim’s involvement in terrorism related activities as well as embezzlement of funds. Dr Asim’s arrest came in what has been described as the first major action against the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leadership during the ongoing Karachi operation. A close aide to former president Asif Ali Zardari, he was taken into custody on Wednesday. Over a dozen men in plain-clothes belonging to the Federal Investigation Agency and an intelligence outfit arrived at the HEC office at around noon Wednesday and the man leading them introduced himself to Dr Asim and asked him to accompany them. Dr Asim was then taken to an undisclosed location for questioning. Dr. Hussain, a close advisor of Asif Ali Zardari was probably arrested in a graft-busting operation. Earlier last year, Gilani and Fahim were granted pre-arrest bail in a dozen other pending cases related to the Trade Development Authority (TDAP) scandal. There are another 12 new cases registered against the two PPP leaders by the FIA, bringing the tally to 24. Even if they are innocent, it is shameful that they are even associated with such scandals.
On the same day as Dr Asim was having his collar felt, two other PPP luminaries were issued with non-bailable arrest warrants by a separate anti-terrorism court. Former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and former federal minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim are in the sights and the judge has ordered them to appear before him on September 10. Once again, it was the FIA that was the driving force behind the actions against these political heavyweights, and there is a distinct impression that somebody somewhere has decided to take the gloves off. This is the first time in the context of the ongoing Karachi operation that senior figures from the PPP, close confidantes of former president Asif Ali Zardari, and in one case reportedly also close to the leadership of the MQM, have been detained. These actions come after protracted and shrill complaints from MQM leaders that it was they and their innocent membership that were the targets of the law-enforcement agencies, other parties being let off lightly or ignored. That claim has to a degree been punctured by the detention of Dr Asim. It is now for the law-enforcement agencies and not just the FIA to make sure that the detention of Dr Asim is procedurally watertight, and that the evidence to be presented in a court of law is unequivocal.
pk.shafaqna.com
