PESHAWAR/DI KHAN: The National Accountability Bureau, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has summoned a close aide of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and his father on Dec 10 as part of the ongoing assets inquiry against the JUI-F chief.

The call-up notices were issued to JUI-F district information secretary Noor Asghar Wazir and his father, Gul Asghar Wazir, under Section 19 of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, which empowers the ‘NAB chairman or an officer to call any person for information, produce or deliver any document or anything useful to the inquiry and examine any person acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case’.

The notices were served through the district police officer of Dera Ismail Khan, which is the hometown of the JUI-F chief.

Noor Asghar says notices will be responded in ‘legal manner’

The notices said, “the competent authority has taken cognisance of an offence committed by Maulana Fazlur Rehman and others under the provision of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, and in inquiry in the matter has revealed that both Mr Asghar and his son were in possession of information/evidence related to the commission of the offence. They were summoned earlier on Nov 3 but both failed to appear before the accountability body.”

In the notices, the NAB asked the two to appear before the combined investigation team (CIT-I) at NAB KP headquarters in Hayatabad, Peshawar, on Dec 10 at 11 hours.

Mr Noor, a close associate of Mr Fazl, has served as the party’s district member in Rata Kulachi union council. He is one of the largest landowners in the area.

Mr Noor told Dawn that he had yet to receive the NAB call-up notice.

“After receiving the notice, I’ll respond to it in a legal manner,” he said.

He claimed that he and his father were not involved in anything unlawful, so they were not afraid of the NAB and would respond to all its questions.

On Sept 22, the NAB KP had issued a call-up notice to Mr Fazl asking him to appear before it on Oct 1. However, it later said that the notice reported in the media wasn’t duly signed and that the JUI-F chief would be summoned at a later stage to know his views on the ongoing assets inquiry against him.

On Sept 24, the NAB KP arrested Musa Khan Baloch, a retired officer of the forest department and a close associate of the JUI-F’s chief in an illegal assets case.

Mr Baloch was the chief of JUI-F Paharpur tehsil, while his son, Tariq Baloch, was the personal secretary of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl.

On Aug 25, Ziaur Rehman, a younger brother of the JUI-F chief and an employee of the provincial government, had appeared before the NAB in connection with an inquiry into his assets.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2020