ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's anti-graft body on Thursday announced the arrest of the country's former top bureaucrat who served as secretary to ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over alleged links to a housing scam.
The National Accountability Bureau arrested Fawad Hassan on Thursday in the eastern city of Lahore after questioning him for several hours, it said in a statement.
Hassan is accused of misusing his authority during Sharif's administration by influencing authorities to award contracts for a government-run housing program for low-income citizens to a Lahore-based company with which he had political connections.
The arrest came a day before a judge was set to announce a much-awaited verdict against Sharif and his daughter in a corruption case involving their properties in London.
Sharif's political future has been in limbo since 2017, when the Supreme Court disqualified him for concealing his assets.
Sharif and daughter Maryam Nawaz are in London with Sharif's ailing wife and he has not been able to campaign for his Pakistan Muslim League party, which is trying to regain power by winning the July 25 vote.
Sharif is not running for a seat in parliament as he has been barred by the judiciary from holding office after a court found him guilty of concealing assets abroad. However, his daughter is running for a seat in the National Assembly and her conviction would be another blow to the former ruling party.
Sharif's party faces tough competition from the country's popular former lawmaker Imran Khan, whose Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party is also running for office.
Khan is also seeing to become the country's next prime minister.
Officials say Pakistan's former top bureaucrat arrested
Officials say Pakistan's former top bureaucrat arrested
- Sharif's party faces tough competition from the country's popular former lawmaker Imran Khan
Israel defends Somaliland move at UN amid concerns over Gaza motives
- Some states question if recognition part of a bid to relocate Palestinians or establish military bases
- US President Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza states: "No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return"
- US accuses Security Council of double standards after Western countries recognized Palestinian state
UNITED NATIONS: Israel defended on Monday its formal recognition of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, but several countries at the United Nations questioned whether the move aimed to relocate Palestinians from Gaza or to establish military bases.
Israel became the first country to recognize Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state on Friday.
The 22-member Arab League, a regional organization of Arab states in the Middle East and parts of Africa, rejects “any measures arising from this illegitimate recognition aimed at facilitating forced displacement of the Palestinian people or exploiting northern Somali ports to establish military bases,” Arab League UN Ambassador Maged Abdelfattah Abdelaziz told the UN Security Council.
“Against the backdrop of Israel’s previous references to Somaliland of the Federal Republic of Somalia as a destination for the deportation of Palestinian people, especially from Gaza, its unlawful recognition of Somaliland region of Somalia is deeply troubling,” Pakistan’s Deputy UN Ambassador Muhammad Usman Iqbal Jadoon told the council.
Israel’s UN mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the remarks or address any of them in its statement at the council meeting. In March, the foreign ministers of Somalia and Somaliland said they had not received any proposal to resettle Palestinians from Gaza.
US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza states: “No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return.”
Israel’s coalition government, the most right-wing and religiously conservative in its history, includes far-right politicians who advocate the annexation of both Gaza and the West Bank and encouraging Palestinians to leave their homeland.
Somalia’s UN Ambassador Abukar Dahir Osman said council members Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone and Somalia “unequivocally reject any steps aimed at advancing this objective, including any attempt by Israel to relocate the Palestinian population from Gaza to the northwestern region of Somalia.”
SOMALILAND VS PALESTINIAN STATE
Somaliland has enjoyed effective autonomy — and relative peace and stability — since 1991 when Somalia descended into civil war, but the breakaway region has failed to receive recognition from any other country.
“It is not a hostile step toward Somalia, nor does it preclude future dialogue between the parties. Recognition is not an act of defiance. It is an opportunity,” Israel’s Deputy UN Ambassador Jonathan Miller told the council.
In September, several Western states, including France, Britain, Canada and Australia announced they would recognize a Palestinian state, joining more than three-quarters of the 193 UN members who already do so.
Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Tammy Bruce said: “This council’s persistent double standards and misdirection of focus distract from its mission of maintaining international peace and security.”
Slovenia’s UN Ambassador Samuel Zbogar disputed her argument, saying: “Palestine is not part of any state. It is illegally occupied territory ... Palestine is also an observer state in this organization.”
He added: “Somaliland, on the other hand, is a part of a UN member state and recognizing it goes against ... the UN Charter.”
Israel said last week that it would seek immediate cooperation with Somaliland in agriculture, health, technology and the economy. The former British protectorate hopes Israeli recognition will encourage other nations to follow suit, increasing its diplomatic heft and access to global markets.
