Members of Senate Standing Committee on Narcotics Control have doubted the government’s version that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Rana Sanaullah had 15 kilograms of drugs worth Rs220 million in his car, Dawn reported.
Sanaullah was arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) earlier this month after the stash was discovered in his vehicle while travelling via the Faisalabad-Lahore Motorway.
Protesting against the apprehension, members of opposition parties condemned the episode as they argued that the MNA was arrested without any allegation and case against him. They termed it the “worst example of lawlessness and political revenge”.
“There is a general scare that anyone can plant drugs in anyone’s car. The matter has been hushed up. We want to know exact details of the case of Rana Sanaullah’s arrest,” said PML-N Senator Saleem Zia, who raised the issue during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Narcotics Control on Friday.
“Why would a politician and a former law minister be carrying drugs with him and that too in such huge quantities?” Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Anwar Lal Dean asked senior officials from the Narcotics Ministry and the ANF.
While the senators implied that the drugs were planted in Sanaullah’s car, ANF Director General (DG) Major General Mohammad Arif Malik urged them to not make assumptions.
“The minister for narcotics has already given a briefing on the matter. It would be unreasonable to assume that drugs were planted on him [Sanaullah]. Members should either come forward with proof that he was framed or believe the version of the ANF that drugs were recovered from him,” he was quoted as saying.
