A year after acquitting former religious affairs minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi in a case pertaining to alleged irregularities in Hajj operations between 2009 and 2012, the Islamabad High Court on Thursday directed authorities to unfreeze his bank accounts and properties. The court announced its decision on a petition filed by Raid Mudassiq Kharal, counsel for Kazmi. As the hearing went underway, counsel for Kazmi contended that the petitioner had moved several applications before the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the government to unfreeze his bank accounts and properties and remove his name from the Exit Control List (ECL). “The mala fide on the part of the respondents was also apparent from the fact that the name of the co-accused was removed from the ECL but the petitioner’s requests were dismissed despite acquittal by the high court,” he said. The petitioner said that the actions carried “grave miscarriage of justice and infringement of the fundamental right of the petitioner guaranteed under constitution. Kazim appealed to the court to unfreeze his accounts and properties and removed his name from the ECL. In its reply to the petitioner, the FIA told the court that Kazmi’s name was already deleted from the ECL while his account in Faysal Bank had been unfrozen. The infamous Hajj scandal surfaced in 2010 after the then Science and Technology Minister Azam Khan Swati accused Kazmi of corruption in Hajj affairs. According to the charge-sheet, Kazmi, former Hajj director general Rao Shakeel and former joint secretary of the religious affairs ministry Raja Aftabul Islam were indicted for fraud, cheating, misuse of authority and causing losses to the kitty and the public at large. On March 3, 2016, a special court had sentenced Kazmi to 16 years in prison. Shakeel and Islam, were also jailed for massive irregularities during Hajj operations between 2009 and 2012. Published in Daily Times, May 18th 2018.