Court rejects plea of ex-prime minister’s son

RAWALPINDI - The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Monday threw out the plea of Syed Ali Musa Gilani, an MNA from Multan and son of former prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, for annulment of his arrest warrants issued by a magistrate in ephedrine quota scam.
ADSJ Kaleem Khan rejected the application of Musa Gilani, an accused in ephedrine case, which he filed through his lawyer Sheikh Abdul Aziz for cancellation of the arrest warrants.
It is pertinent to mention here that Magistrate Shafqat Ullah Khan, on the request of Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) had issued arrest warrants for Musa Gilani and former federal minister for health and PPP favorite for new PM Makhdoom Shahabuddin in ephedrine smuggling case.
Musa, through his counsel, contented that a magistrate had no legal powers to issue arrest warrants in a case being probed by the investigators of ANF.  He argued that there were special trial courts for narcotics cases and arrest warrants for any accused could not be issued by the court of a magistrate. Therefore, the court of ADSJ was requested to declare the magistrate’s orders null-and-void and cancel the warrants.
On the other hand, ANF special prosecutors argued before the court that they had solid evidence against Musa for his involvement in ephedrine quota scam. They told the court that Musa refused to appear before investigation team for the fourth time when he was requested to be a part of the probe. They said due to his refusal court issued his arrest warrants and ANF also constituted teams and carrying out raids for his arrest.
They pleaded the ADSJ to maintain the arrest warrants for accused Musa.
After conclusion of arguments of the both parties, ADSJ Kaleem Khan set aside the application of Musa and laid down the verdict that orders issued by a magistrate were not illegal.
Former Federal Minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin is still enjoying life outside lock ups as he obtained protective bail from Peshawar High Court (PHC) for one week after his arrest warrants were issued by a magistrate.

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