CHITRAL, March 16: Former district nazim of Chitral Haji Maghfirat Shah was set free from the district jail here on Saturday after he was granted bail by the Swat circuit bench of Peshawar High Court.
The former nazim, who is also a Jamaat-e-Islami leader, was taken to the Atalique Chowk in a procession of party workers soon after his release from the jail where he addressed the gathering. He said a series of recent events in Chitral showed that there was no rule of law in the district. He said these events included the poaching of a markhor in Chitral Gol National Park and the illegal construction of a house by a government officer near Chitral airport.
He demanded of the chief justice of Peshawar High Court to order a judicial inquiry into the anomalies and said he would provide the commission with the details required to prove it. He warned that the situation will go from bad to worse in the district if no stern action was taken against the responsible elements who had transgressed their powers.
On this occasion, the former district amir of Jamaat-i-Islami Maulana Sher Aziz said that the JI leader and former district nazim was falsely implicated in the case while the corruption of not a single penny could be proved against him during the five years. The former district nazim of upper Dir Sahibzada Tariqullah, former district amir of JI Abdullah Jan and other senior leaders of the party were present on the occasion.
The former nazim had been arrested three weeks ago on the charge of purchasing stolen explosives of the Golen Gol hydropower project for use in his hydropower project. Earlier, his bail applications were rejected by the concerned district and sessions judge and judicial magistrate. The circuit bench accepted a petition filed by Mr Shah and granted him bail.–Zahiruddin
It is very sad that a potical party like JI is meddling in the judicial proceedings against M.Shah, the ex-district nazim. The matter should be left to the courts and the accused to prove his innocence.
We have a very strange political culture. Politicians come to power, loot, steal and plunder national assets and commit all other crimes. When they are put behind bars they come out and use this as a pride and a certificate to come to power again. In civilized societies if once your are booked in a criminal case it will keep you haunting the whole life.
This man was our nazim and he was sent to jail after recovery of a huge quantity of explosive materials from his powerhouse. But after coming out, instead of accepting his crime, he is blaming the whole system terming the whole area lawless. Can two wrong make one good? If all others were criminals and lawless, was Haji Maghfirat Shah justified to commit a crime? And what the hell his party arranged the public meeting to receive him like a hero?