A special court in Lahore acquitted on Saturday Interior Minister Rana Sanullah in a narcotics case filed against him during the PTI government's tenure. The minister was arrested in July 2019 under the previous government by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF). It had claimed to have recovered 15kg of heroin from his vehicle. During the hearing on Saturday, ANF Assistant Director Imtiaz Ahmed and Inspector Ehsaan Azam dismissed the charges against Sanaullah, declaring them wrong.

"We never saw any sort of drugs being recovered from the scene," theystated. Subsequently, the court acquitted the interior minister and all theother people named in the case. Earlier, Sanaullah approached the court with a plea. It stated that the caseagainst the minister was "concocted, devised and fabricated"."The prosecution remained unable to bring an iota of evidence against the petitioners/accused and the entire judicial file is also silent about any incriminating piece of evidence against the petitioner," reads the petition.

He further contended in his petition that the case was the consequence ofpolitical victimisation, as he also referred to a statement of PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry, saying "the ex-minister had categorically stated that this case was not lodged on the asking of lmran Khan's government and it was lodged by some influential personalities of the country". The minister urged the court to acquit him of the charge "in the interest of justice, equity and fair play".

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP