Mir Shakilur Rehman remanded into NAB's custody for 12 days.

LAHORE: An accountability court in Lahore on Friday granted the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) 12-day physical remand of Jang Group's Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakilur Rehman in a property case.

The court had originally granted NAB an 11-day physical remand but extended it by a day when Rehman's counsel Aitizaz Ahsan said that he will not be available for proceedings on March 24.

Rehman was arrested by the anti-corruption watchdog when he appeared before it in a 34-year-old case related to 54-kanal land he allegedly acquired illegally in the tenure of then chief minister of Punjab Nawaz Sharif.

During the hearing, Aitzaz Ahsan vehemently opposed NAB's request for physical remand, saying that NAB's 'attitude towards Mir Shakilur Rahman is based on maliciousness'. Ahsan termed his client's arrest a day earlier as illegal, arguing that Rehman was cooperating with the accountability watchdog. "Mir Shakilur Rehman is not running anywhere but NAB did not hear his stance and arrested him," Ahsan said. "[PML-N's] Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was also arrested by NAB in the same manner," he said. "On Thursday, Rehman had brought answers of the questions asked by NAB. He was arrested illegally," the defence lawyer declared, adding that Rehman was taken into custody because of his 'criticism'. "How can the NAB chairman issue arrest warrants without even looking at Mir Shakilur Rehman's case file?" he questioned.

The NAB prosecutor countered Ahsan's arguments by insisting that Rehman was arrested after fulfilling legal requirements.

After his appearance before the NAB team in Lahore last week, Rehman had said he had bought the land in question from a private party and no illegality had been committed in this respect. However, according to NAB, Rehman had been arrested in connection with alleged illegal exemption of 54 plots (each measuring one kanal)...