Punjab orders inquiry into heroin case against former deputy nazim

Faisalabad: An inquiry committee has been formed to examine a narcotics case registered against a former deputy nazim who was arrested by Madina Town Police after authorities said two kilograms of heroin were recovered from him, officials said on Saturday.

The committee will also review drug cases registered in Faisalabad and other districts after political concerns intensified over the alleged misuse of anti-narcotics laws.

Over the past four months, two local political figures in Faisalabad district — a union council nazim and a former deputy nazim — were booked in separate narcotics cases. One of them was later granted bail, while the former deputy nazim was sent to jail.

The case involving former deputy nazim Waseem Bajwa drew political attention after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmakers Rana Shahriyar Khan and Mian Tahir Jamil raised the matter in the Punjab Assembly. They alleged that the case had been fabricated.

Following discussion of the matter in the provincial assembly, Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan directed that an inquiry team be constituted under the law minister and the inspector general of Punjab Police.

The committee has been asked to submit its findings within 15 days.

Review of narcotics cases

Officials said the newly formed body will re-examine narcotics cases not only in Faisalabad but also in other districts as part of a broader review prompted by the controversy surrounding recent arrests.

According to official figures, about 3,200 narcotics cases were registered across the Faisalabad region during a four-month anti-drug drive launched on the instructions of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

Out of that total, 370 cases were registered in Faisalabad district alone, according to the official data.

The latest development follows concerns voiced in the Punjab Assembly over whether anti-narcotics laws were being applied properly in some cases involving political figures.

Officials said the inquiry would focus on the case against Waseem Bajwa as well as the wider pattern of narcotics cases registered during the recent campaign in the region.

The move came after the issue was formally taken up in the provincial assembly, where the two PML-N MPAs challenged the case against the former deputy nazim and called it fabricated.

The anti-drug campaign in the Faisalabad region has been underway for the last four months under directions issued by the chief minister, with thousands of cases registered during that period.