LAHORE - A Division Bench of Lahore High Court Wednesday disposed of a petition earlier moved by Hussain Haqqani, Pakistan ambassador to US, to question inclusion of his name in the list of those who were acquitted in criminal cases under the benefit of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). The Bench headed by Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif has referred the matter of Haqqani to accountability court of Rawalpindi, with a direction to decide the same in the context whether or not the petitioners name was added to the list of NRO beneficiaries rightly. On November 3, the bench had reserved verdict in the petition after hearing the versions of NAB, FIA and the petitioners counsel. Previously, an investigating officer of FIA Khalid Mehmood appeared before the bench and said he had declared Haqqani guilty in his inquiry about irregularities in the grant of cable television licenses. NAB counsel, however, said the then deputy prosecutor general of the Bureau after inspecting the charges against the petitioner, had dropped investigations against him. He further said that name of the petitioner was mistakenly included in the list of NRO beneficiaries. Haqqanis counsel had submitted that the petitioner never applied for any benefit under (NRO) in any alleged case against him. He submitted that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had never initiated any reference against the petitioner. Three cases were filed against him by the Ehtisab Bureau of Saifur Rehman in 1999 on the charges of misuse of power. The LHC later released him on bail after 79 days in detention. He further said the SHC quashed FIR in one of the cases whereas the other was dropped by the investigation agency after failing to find any evidence. The third on the list of cases had never reached the stage of prosecution and as such there was no question of Haqqani requesting any relief under NRO. He said investigation agency might have dropped the case on its own. On October 7, NAB had submitted record of cases against Haqqani and the order on the basis of which he was later exonerated from the charges in 1997. It was stated that a case of irregularities in grant of cable television licenses was investigated by NAB against Hussain Haqqani and former premier Benazir Bhutto but due to death of Benazir, the proceedings against her were withdrawn. The law ministry had already informed the court that the name of the petitioner was mistakenly included in the list of NRO beneficiaries.