ISLAMABAD, March 17: A former force commander of the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) Rawalpindi has demanded a judicial inquiry into the acquittal of a PML-N leader from the ephedrine case by his counterpart in the regional ANF directorate of Karachi.

Brigadier Faheem Ahmed Khan was repatriated to the army in January this year from the ANF Rawalpindi where he served as the force commander.

His transfer orders came after he raised a number of questions over the role of the ANF regional directorate Karachi headed by Brigadier Mohammad Wajid in clearing former PML-N MNA Hanif Abbasi in the ephedrine case.

Brigadier Khan alleged that the PML-N politician had been cleared in the case through a bogus inquiry conducted by the ANF Karachi that too without any lawful mandate.

He also brought detailed information in support of his claim on record of the Supreme Court in January this year but was removed unceremoniously from the ANF regional directorate.

Also in January, the director general ANF, Major General Malik Zafar Iqbal, ordered an inquiry into the matter and appointed Brigadier Sardar Mohammad as head of the ‘court of inquiry’. According to sources, the inquiry was completed in mid-February but is yet to be made public.

About two weeks back, Brigadier Khan wrote a letter to the registrar of the Supreme Court, secretary ministry of narcotics control division, senior legal consultant of the ANF and the ANF director general seeking a judicial inquiry into the entire episode of the alleged misuse of 500 kilogrammes ephedrine by Mr Abbasi’s firm Grays Pharmaceutical and his clearance by the ANF Karachi from the case.

Brigadier Khan also expressed lack of confidence in the court of inquiry headed by Brigadier Sardar. In the letter, he stated that since formation of the court of inquiry in January, he twice recorded his statement before Brigadier Sardar on January 31 and February 26.

“During this process, it was felt that the court of inquiry was biased and it asked questions which were beyond its mandate.” He added, “Calling the investigation officers and the investigation record in the court of inquiry and asking questions pertaining to the investigation may cause damage to the probe.”

He pointed out: “Since I had been pursuing the investigation fairly, transparently and independently and questioned the negative role of officials of the ANF directorate Karachi, I was prematurely repatriated to the army.”

The officer said the ANF Karachi had cleared the former PML-N lawmaker in September 2012 which led to the confirmation of his bail in the ephedrine case by the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench on November 1, 2012. The bail was confirmed by the court after Mr Abbasi submitted documents of the ANF Karachi directorate declaring him not guilty, he added.

The ANF regional directorate Rawalpindi in July last year registered the case against the PML-N leader and started the investigation into the alleged misuse of 500 kg ephedrine allocated to his company in 2010.

Before the registration of the case, the ANF Rawalpindi had asked the ANF Karachi for collection of some evidence against Mr Abbasi but after registering the FIR in July last year the ANF Rawalpindi asked the Karachi office to stop the investigation. But according to the ANF Rawalpindi, the directorate Karachi continued its investigation and cleared the former MNA.

Brigadier Khan pointed out that in September 2012 he requested the ANF director general to look into the matter but nothing was done till January when the DG ordered an inquiry. However, before the conclusion of the probe, Brigadier Khan was repatriated to the army.

He alleged that Lt-Col Tauqeer Abbas Zaidi, ex-joint executive director ANF Rawalpindi, who wrote a letter to the regional directorate Karachi in October last year and called the officials concerned there for the investigation, was also repatriated prematurely.

“The ANF director general was furious as to why Lt-Col Zaidi had sent the letter to the regional directorate Karachi,” he said in the letter.

When contacted, ANF spokesman Col (retired) Akhtar Abbas said he would give a detailed answer after examining the record.

He, however, said no action had been taken so far by the authorities concerned on the letter of Brigadier Khan.

“I will get back to you after a while,” he added. However, till the filing of this report, Col Abbas did not provide any further detail.