HYDERABAD, Feb 22: The general-secretary of the People's Party Parliamentarians, Hyderabad, Mohammad Amin Lakho, has appealed to the Supreme Court to order arrest of Sindh cabinet members and initiate an inquiry into their alleged corrupt practices.

He was speaking at a news conference at the party office here on Tuesday. He said the amount allegedly looted by Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim and his cabinet members should be recovered and exemplary punishment should be awarded to them.

Mr Lakho said he would file a petition in the Sindh High Court in a week against what he called inefficient and corrupt rulers. Referring to corruption charges levelled by the chief minister against sacked minister Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh and counter charges by Mr Shaikh against Dr Rahim, he observed that people of the province were ashamed of the public display of corruption.

He regretted that instead of taking action against the chief minister and the sacked minister, the federal government and the president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, were performing the role of 'patharidar' by asking the warring parties to maintain silence.

He said the way the public money was being looted today had no parallel in the history of the country. The PPP leader said when the two parties were displaying documentary evidence against each other, the National Accountability Bureau should have stepped in and arrested Dr Rahim and Mr Shaikh and recovered the looted money from them.