Prime Minister Imran Khan slammed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for its arrest of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Director of Archaeology and Museums, Dr Abdul Samad on Thursday.
In a tweet posted late on Friday night, the prime minister said that the NAB chairman “should take action against those in his institution who are responsible for this disgraceful act.” He also posted a screenshot of a post by Twitter user Ismail Khan, which read, “”NAB brought the only PhD in Sanskrit, in Asia from Germany, a Fulbright scholar and a gold medalist in archaeology [sic], Dr Samad, to court for employing low paid workers to ward off illegal excavations. What a shame! Why should anybody serve here!”
The anti-graft body had arrested Provincial Directorate of Archaeology and Museums Dr Samad in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa for alleged corruption of his authority. He was accused of appointing over 90 ‘Class IV’ employees at different archaeological sites in a clear violation of prescribed rules.
Dr Samad is perhaps the youngest person to be appointed as an archaeology director in the last decade. He was arrested by NAB when asked to report at the bureau’s office for answering questions with reference to the alleged misuse of his authority.
An accountability court in Peshawar remanded Dr Samad for 10 days on Friday “in order to hold an interrogation” regarding different charges against him. Maintaining his innocence, Dr Samad asked the court to double his sentence if proven guilty on any charge. Yet, in case of his innocence, those levelling allegations against him should be dealt with accordingly. The court was also informed that Dr Samad was asked to appear at NAB’s bureau via a phone call and arrested without a warrant there.
His lawyer, Shumail Ahmad Butt, stated that the accused was a well-known archaeologist. He holds a PhD in Archaeology from Germany and is also a Fulbright alumnus, Butt added. Dr Samad was also presented with a Tamgha-i-Imtiaz by the federal government.
Published in Daily Times, February 17th 2019.
