Babar’s plea against harassment by FIA: Urgent hearing to take place today

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) fixed for urgent hearing today (Thursday), a petition filed by ex-senator Farhatullah Babar against alleged harassment by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

The petition was filed Wednesday under Article 199 of the Constitution by advocates, Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha against the Ministry of Interior and the FIA and others as respondents, “Seeking intervention of Court against the unlawful, illegal, arbitrary and mala fide conduct in continuously harassing the petitioner through repeated issuance of ambiguous and illegal notices and summons, in what is an illegal fishing expedition/roving enquiry by the FIA in violation of laws and principles of natural justice.”

The petition said that the FIA enquiry was initiated on March 25 on the complaint of a private citizen, unknown to him, living in Morgah, Rawalpindi alleging “suspected corruption, tax evasion and illicit asset accumulation” and he appeared before the FIA on March 28 a day before Eid holidays. No copy of the complaint was provided to him. Interestingly, on 11 April 2025, a detailed questionnaire of 12 questions was slammed at him through WhatsApp, directing him to answer them all by 7 April 2025, four days prior to receiving it. The questions delved deep into the past, requiring collecting information from multiple offices within and outside the country. Despite this, the petitioners provided answers to all the questions.

Instead of acknowledging the answers provided to the questionnaire, the FIA then asked the petitioner on May 27 to explain the source of properties which it claimed to have received from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) when he served as senator and also explain some banking transactions, within five days. The petitioner rejected the alleged transactions of Rs1,500,000 in his account on 3 April 2025 and another alleged transaction of Rs3 million on 5 July 2025 (almost a month away in the future). Thereupon, the petitioner was then directed to appear in person, the petition said.

Just when the petitioner prepared replies to these questions, the FIA sent him another notice by WhatsApp, asking him to appear in person, disregarding the previous notice to send written replies.

A day before Eid on June 6, Farhatullah Babar uploaded on X (formerly Twitter) extracts from his replies to the FIA and said; “Two days ago, FIA regurgitated questions already replied to by me on May 12. One Q alleged transaction of 3 M on 5-7-25 (still a month away). Just when replies were being readied, the FIA WhatsApped to appear in person next day (June 5) on eve of Eid holidays. I couldn’t appear in person and sent this reply.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025