KARACHI: Senior leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and former minister for ports and shipping Babar Ghauri on Tuesday filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking to become party in the case pertaining to missing Nato containers, DawnNews reported.

The controversy over the disappearance of thousands of containers surfaced after an inquiry into the matter was ordered by the Supreme Court on a claim made by Director General of Sindh Rangers that 19,000 containers had been stolen from the Karachi Port when Ghauri was the ports and shipping minister.

Speaking to media representatives after filing the request today, Ghauri said the responsibility for clearance of containers leaving the port did not lie with the ports and shipping ministry.

Ghauri added that it was hardly fair that the MQM should be blamed for everything negative that happened and denied involvement in the alleged disappearance of 19,000 containers said to have been carrying arms from ports during his tenure as minister.

The apex court had recently ordered Ramzan Bhatti, a former customs official, as a one-man commission, to determine the authenticity of reports that a shipload of guns and ammunition had arrived at the Karachi port during Ghauri’s tenure.

The commission is reported to have started work on four points: smuggling of arms and ammunition, veracity of the DG Sindh Rangers’ statement, revenue leakages and its role in incidents of terrorism and preventive measures to avert such scandals in future.

Pakistan serves as a key transit route for the US and ISAF forces in landlocked Afghanistan. Pakistan and the US have signed a deal allowing military supplies to travel into Afghanistan until the end of 2015.