The right hand of former Punjab minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, Rana Sanaullah has been grounded in an unfitting case of narcotics by The Anti-Narcotics association on the 1st of July 2019. Mr. Sanaullah has been an open vocal critic of the prime minister Imran khan. The arrest was made on his way to Lahore from Faisalabad around 3pm. Mr. Sanaullah’s brother claimed that 15 vehicles of ANF and elite force Punjab stormed towards them and arrested Mr. Sanaullah.
Ever since PTI has seeked dawn of its governance, the former government has been in waves of turbulence over corruption cases. Mr. Sanaullah’s legal spokesperson has stated this as a political vengeance target, meaning the former government has purposely placed Mr. Sanaullah under allegations to drag him behind bars as well.
The spokesperson of ANF has stated that the drugs were recovered from his vehicle, when he was arrested near the Sukheki area. The drugs recovered are still being assessed. Despite, not disclosing the sources as to how such information was preserved, the ANF spokesperson has stressed quoting ‘ANF does not arrest any individual without due cause’.
Mr. Sanaullah was immediately sent to jail on a Tuesday on 14-day judicial remand by a district court in Lahore. This was met with a lot of unrequited criticism by the opposing parties, calling this out as ‘’a worst example of political victimization”
The opposition further, outburst in an uproar of protest saying 15kg worth of heroin was a plant to fabricate Mr. Sanaullah. PLM-N Senator and PPP’s Senator have raided questions quoting ‘why would a former law minister and politician would carry such a huge amount of drugs in his personal car?’. The question is quite relevant. Following the question came a huge outburst of cry by the opposition parties.
In response to the accusations clustered, The Minister for Narcotics Control ‘Shahryar Afridi’ gave a detailed briefing about why Mr. Rana Sanaullah’s car was raided and how the allegations are rightly directed.
His entire response can be heard on:
However, the Secretary of ANF stated that it might be a still premature move to form any conclusion about Mr. Sanaullah. With one authority stating a neutral response, the investigator office and the Director General of the Anti-Narcotics Force, has firmly warned the opposition to refrain from making assumptions and not question the authority of ANF as ‘no one stands above the law’. Furthermore, it should be noted that the Director General of ANF stands at an equal ranking of Major General and hence would not inter mingle with the affairs of parliament rivalry, unless there has been a serious breach of law.
If looked at the previous such cases statistics, 95% of the 1200 individuals have been convicted on the bases of strong evidence to the court. While the case stands fresh, there might be chances that new evidence will emerge meanwhile.
However, only 2 days ago the court has adjourned Mr. Rana Sanaullah’s case until ANF provides a strong record against him.
As the case seems translucent at the moment, it would be hard to say which side we should our cling our opinions on. however, analyzing Mr. Sanaullah’s stance and conduct as a political body so far, Mr. Hamid Mir sheds informative light on Mr. Sanaullah’s ANF arrest case.
Mr. Sanaullah has been in limelight before, as we remember the critical time when Model Town incident happened. This has come off as no surprise to many political bodies. As we may wait for the final verdict on how this case shapes, it is safe to say that this recent allegation has put the already pressured PML-N in a tight corner.
