IHC dismisses Saad Rafique's plea for protective bail

ISLAMABAD - A plea seeking the protective bail, submitted by the senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Saad Rafique was dismissed by the Islamabad High Court on Thursday.

A two-member bench also rejected a petition seeking the protective bail of Salman Rafique for 10 days; Saad Rafique left the courtroom before the announcement of the verdict.

The Khawaja brothers filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court petitions seeking protective bail and legal protection against alleged harassment by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

In the petitions filed through their counsel Amjad Pervaiz and Kamran Murtaza, the duo expressed apprehensions about their arrest at the hands of NAB.

They named the NAB chairman and Lahore director general as respondents in the petition.

Citing the recent arrest of former chief minister Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, the ex-railways minister said the NAB chairman and officials subordinate to him were acting like an agent of the present regime.

'The bureau is abusing the process of law for political victimisation,' pleaded Salman Rafique.

An inquiry was launched by the accountability watchdog against the Khawaja brothers regarding the Paragon Housing society which is still ongoing.