Rana Sanaullah demands open trial of heroin recovery case

LAHORE (92 News) – PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah has demanded the open trial of the heroin recovery case registered by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) against him. Talking to the media after appearing in court on Saturday, he said that the government was exposing by registering fake cases against the opposition leaders. “We will not accept the indictment till production of the video of the recovery. Nawaz Sharif’s message is respect for the party and the parliament,” he said. The PML-N leader said that hastiness is not good for the parliament and the institution. “No one is being allowed to enter court cordoned off by the police,” he said. He said that the Foreign Ministry should be taken into confidence over the Iran-US tension. “The opposition should give the opinion unanimously,” he said. On December 26, PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah was released from camp jail.  In its detailed verdict, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had granted bail to the PML-N leader in a drug trafficking case. The nine-page judgment was authored by LHC’s Justice Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmad. The court questioned in its judgement why, even though the former provincial minister was accused of operating a narcotics trafficking network, the Anti Narcotics Force never sought his physical remand to investigate that allegation. According to the court verdict, Rana Sanaullah was granted bail because of the lapses in the prosecution’s case. The prosecution told the court that the ANF had been monitoring Sanaullah’s movements for a few days and they received credible information that drugs were being carried in a car similar to the one Sanaullah has. The court further questioned why formal documentary proceedings of the seizure of narcotics were not conducted at the time of arrest, and why a sample of only 20 grams of the heroin recovered was sent for testing when the seized quantity was a much higher 15 kilogrammes. The judgement also gave some weight to the 'political victimsation' argument made by the petitioner. “In the context of the petitioner being a vocal political leader of [the main] opposition party, this aspect of the case could not be ignored as political victimization in our country is an open secret,” the order stated.