ISLAMABAD, Aug 30: Former interior minister Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat on Monday said an 'influential group' in the ruling party has launched a propaganda against him to malign his reputation so that he could not retain his seat in the next cabinet.

Talking to Dawn, the former minister said the influential group has also started a pre-planned media trail against him. Referring to a an article published in an Urdu daily in which he was accused of being involved in human smuggling, Mr Hayat said the article was also published on the desire of the group.

He claimed that the ever highest number of suspensions in Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) were made on charges of human smuggling during his tenure as interior minister.

He agreed that the British government had conveyed to the government of Pakistan sometimes back that human smuggling from Pakistan was on the rise. "Since receiving the British government's concern, we took foolproof measures to stop human smuggling and arrested many people including one of the biggest human smugglers Malik Bashir from Lahore," he said.

He said many influential persons and political personalities had tried their best to get released the arrested smuggler and pressurised the interior ministry in this regard. The accused, he said, remained in the FIA's custody for many days but the agency had to release him when the accused had managed to get the bail from Lahore High Court.

The former minister said Malik Bashir was being supported by some influential people and he was admitted to a VIP hospital at Lahore in the pretext of his bad health. "The accused is still in the same hospital to deceive the courts that his detention and imprisonment would be unjustified during medical treatment," he added.

Mr Hayat said the influential group in the ruling PML did not want to see him with the same portfolio of interior ministry in the next cabinet. "However, my performance is open before the President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

They know that how the interior ministry under his supervision and guidance successfully fought against international terrorism," he said. The security agencies had reportedly arrested over 50 top Al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan after the 9/11 US attacks.

The US government has also lauded the performance of Pakistan a number of times in the recent past for shattering Al Qaeda network and playing vital role as coalition partner in the war against terrorism.