KARACHI, Feb 25: Secretary General of the PML Sindh, Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh, who has recently been sacked as revenue minister, has remarked that a verdict has already been announced while the inquiry into the charges levelled against him by Chief Minister Dr Arbab Rahim is still in progress.

It is principle of justice that both the side in a dispute are given a level playing field, but in this case, bias on the part of the other side is quite obvious, according to him. However, he added, in order to uphold party discipline, he would not respond to the chief minister's flurry of allegations who had now placed advertisements in print media calling for details of corruption in the revenue department.

"It seems as if the revenue department was the only corrupt department in the province," he remarked, and alleged that the advertisement itself was enough to prove that the cases were aimed at victimizing him, as well as his family members and friends.

Mr Shaikh, who was addressing a press conference in the chamber of Deputy Speaker Rahila Tiwana after Monday's proceedings of the Sindh Assembly, pointed out that he had come to the house to plead his case on the floor of the house, but the session did not last long.

In reply to a question, he said he had not yet received any charge-sheet and the prime minister's inspection team had been informed of the situation. He stated that he had also prepared a charge-sheet against the chief minister and handed the same, along with proofs, over to the team.

When his attention was drawn to the CM's claim that he (Mr Shaikh) owned 600 acres of the forest department's land, he maintained he had no plot in his name. Only 172 acres of land had been acquired by his late father in 1990 as per the prescribed rules, though lease of all these lands had been cancelled later on, he added.

Regarding other allegations, he said these matters pertained to the tenures of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif or the period of military rule. Investigations had been conducted accordingly and he was found not guilty in any of the cases, the PML leader said.

In reply to another question, he said Maj-Gen Farooq had informed him that the purview of the inspection team was limited to the period during which he (Mr Shaikh's) held the portfolio of revenue. He claimed that he had introduced reforms in his department, and in this regard mentioned computerization of the land record, a survey of the city and Gothabad scheme.

Regarding the issue of distribution of Katcha land among the poor, Mr Shaikh said that allotment of such lands was not supposed to be done by a minister, but the district revenue officer who would hold open kachehries for the purpose as provided under the policy. Such a land could not be leased out to any non-settler of the concerned area, he added.

He said he did not need the support of the opposition. The witnesses produced by Dr Arbab to supplement the false claims were now backtracking despite the fact that the state machinery had been mobilized against him, his relatives and friends, he claimed, adding that he was going to take up the matter with the prime minister.