[1]The Pakistani authorities have withdrawn three “politically motivated” corruption references against Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, officials said on Tuesday.
The prosecutor general has prepared a petition for the withdrawal of three “politically motivated” references against President Zardari on directives of the National Accountability Bureau, sources said. The NAB had earlier withdrawn references against interior minister Rehman Malik, filed in an accountability court.
The NAB references against President Zardari have been filed in three courts, for which three separate petitions will be filed soon to withdraw the cases, sources said. The sources said that the NAB authorities, after the withdrawal of cases against Mr Zardari and Mr Maik, are contemplating the withdrawal of more high profile cases pending adjudication before the courts in days to come.
The sources said that a meeting held under the acting chairman NAB, Javed Zia Qazi, decided that all those cases which were politically motivated or required evidence to get convictions from the court of law would be withdrawn. The sources said that in the days to come more cases would be withdrawn, invoking Section 31-B of the NAB law.
The corruption references against Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) chief Nawaz Sharif, and his other family members are likely to be withdrawn as the NAB authorities considered these cases politically motivated and authored by a dictatorial regime to bully Nawaz Sharif.
Under the NAB law prosecutor general, NAB was empowered to withdraw the case under Section 31-B of NAB law at any stage of trial and the withdrawal application for withdrawal of corruption references against Rehman Malik was moved under the same section of NAB law.
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