Anwar Saifullah to move court against NAB

Former Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Anwar Saifullah Khan Monday came hard on National Accountability Bureau (NAB) authorities for what he called launching a misleading and spurious propaganda campaign against him by including his name in the NRO beneficiaries' list.
Addressing a press conference here at National Press Club, he announced to move court against NAB authorities under defamation law as NAB had intentionally damaged his reputation. Saifullah, who is a sitting MPA of PPP in NWFP Assembly, said he never submitted an application seeking relief under the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).
He asked the government to form National Truth & Reconciliation Commission so that all the issues including the false cases registered against politicians for political victimisation could be addressed. Elaborating his cases, Anwar Saifullah Khan said as many as six cases were registered against him by the authorities under the charges of misuse of authority; however, adding that the superior courts had acquitted him in all these cases.
"I was the first politician from NWFP who was arrested by the authorities after General Musharraf took over in 1999 without any warrants. Later, I was told that I had been taken into custody under the cases registered by Farooq Leghari's regime. When I told them that I was awarded bail in all those cases, a new case was registered to keep me under detention," he added.
"I was charged for providing employment to the unemployed youth from all the four provinces from BPS 1 to 14 under PPP policy of more employment opportunities for the poor and I am proud of what I did for the poor people and under privileged class. However, not a single case of corruption was registered against me," he maintained. He said he had bravely faced his trial and was kept in jail for one and a half year.
He added that during his detention period, he had never requested the authorities for relief, adding that the courts acquitted him in all the cases. Later, NAB authorities went into appeals which were still pending with courts till April 2008, he added.
Anwar said that when Musharraf issued NRO in 2007, NAB withdrew all its appeals as there was no material in those appeals against him and the Law Ministry should have checked the cases of all politicians before making the list public.
Anwar Saifullah said he had suffered due to the false and politically motivated cases for 10 years and ultimately courts declare him innocent. However, he regretted, the NAB had defamed him by including his name in NRO beneficiaries list. He was of the view that NRO was a brainchild of Chaudhry Shujaat and was implemented by Musharraf regime. However, he said the media was holding responsible to those who had rendered sacrifices for the restoration of democratic process.