Daily Times

Minister for Narcotics Control Shehryar Afridi on Tuesday lashed out at PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah and challenged the former Punjab law minister to ‘face trial like a man’ in a narcotics case registered against him.

“I’ve been told that he is carrying around the Holy Quran with him. Rana sahib, learn to follow the Holy Quran. If you are speaking the truth, go to the courts and fight like a man. Don’t beat around the bush,” the minister told the Lower House.

Rana Sanaullah challenged the minister to testify against him with Holy Quran in his hands. He denied the allegations of having any connections with the drug peddlers.

About the Model Town incident, Rana Sanaullah said the case is in anti-terrorist court in Lahore. The government can do anything in the case as they are in power, he maintained. He also claimed that no one in the ANF raiding party mentioned the name of drugs when he was arrested.

In an emotional outburst, Afridi reached for a nearby copy of the Holy Quran and tried to testify against the opposition leader. Maulana Salahuddin Ayubi grabbed the holy book away from the minister and stopped him from testifying on it.

The minister categorically stated that the narcotics case against PML-N leader will be taken to its logical conclusion. He regretted that Rana Sanaullah is using different pretexts to delay trial of the case. He maintained that the Control of Narcotics Substances Act was not passed by present government but the previous regimes. He said it is lamentable that the PML-N is now finding loopholes in the law.

“Let’s take this [matter] to its logical end here in the House, today. There is a hearing on January 18th. Let him stand and say, in this House, that a trial should be initiated so that the truth can come out,” Afridi said, referring to the narcotics case against the PML-N leader. “Don’t run away. This government and ministry will not let you run away. We will take this to the end because this matter concerns my generations and my country,” he declared.

Sanaullah, in response to Afridi, once again denied his involvement in the case. “May God curse me if I have ever been in contact with a heroin dealer or tried to influence on behalf of anyone,” said the PML-N leader. He went on to say that the ANF officials, who arrested him last year, had no idea about the case being prepared against him. “I have been accused of having links with an international gang which supply drugs to all over the world after bringing it to Lahore and Faisalabad from Afghanistan. If it is true then why has the government not arrested any other member of the gang when I had been in jail for seven months?” asked Sanaullah, adding, “No inquiry has been conducted in the case.” He said that trial of a case can only start after registration of a first information report and completion of inquiry.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan said the country has been put on the path of economic revival due to the concrete steps taken by the government. He was responding to a calling attention notice moved by Sabir Hussain Kaim Khani in the National Assembly. He categorically rejected the reports that Hyderabad Dry Port is being closed down, saying that the dry port caters to the areas of interior Sindh including Larkana, Sukkur and Jacobabad. He said the dry port has witnessed an increase of business activity by over one hundred per cent during the last one year.

The House has been adjourned to meet again today (Wednesday) at 11 am.