KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday granted interim pre-arrest bail to former chief minister of Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah in another investigation of the National Accountability Bureau regarding allotment of land.

The former chief minister through his lawyer moved the SHC for bail after receiving a call up notice from NAB on Dec 18 asking him to appear before a joint investigation team to record his statement.

The petitioner’s lawyer barrister Zamir Ghumro contended that NAB issued a call up notice to his client in false and ambiguous allegations and maintained that the notice was actually meant to arrest him on political grounds.

The counsel further argued that the impugned notice disclosed the violation of the Sindh Land Grant Policy of 2006 and allotment of land, said to be near the Malir River, at a lesser than the prevalent market price.

However, he argued that the market price and value of allotment had not been mentioned in the notice, adding that the allotment of the land in question had already been cancelled.

The lawyer further contended that the former chief minister exercised his authority in the matter strictly in accordance with the law and he was not answerable to any court of law as provided under Article 248 of the Constitution.

He pleaded for pre-arrest bail and quashment of the call up notice.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2018