The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday approved Pak Saarzameen Party (PSP) leader Mustafa Kamal's request for protective bail.

On June 22, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a reference against Kamal and others regarding the alleged illegal allotment of around 5,500 square yards of commercial land to Bahria Town for a multistorey building.

Following this, an accountability court on July 11 reissued notices to Kamal and two others for the third time.

An accountability court judge had taken notice of the former mayor’s absence despite being issued a notice and directed him to appear before the court on July 27.

A two-member bench of the SHC comprising Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro and Justice Shamsuddin Abbasi today approved Kamal's request for protective bail and ordered him to submit Rs1 million as surety.

The PSP leader's lawyer, Hassan Sabir, argued that other suspects in the case had been asked to submit surety of Rs500,000. In response, the court asked him to show the bail orders for the other suspects, which the lawyer said he would present shortly.

The court asked Kamal's counsel why they were seeking bail if only notices had been issued by NAB.

"NAB has named him as a suspect [...] he can be arrested at any time," Sabir responded.

While speaking to media, Kamal said that he did not have any benami accounts and had not stolen "even three rupees".

"I am being issued a notice for a case which has no basis.

"I need to seek bail and this is very shocking for me," he said, adding: "I have worked with honesty [yet] today I have to go through this situation."

Kamal claimed that nothing had been proven and he would be acquitted in the case.

"But when I am acquitted no one will pick up that story," he said, adding that if the allegations against him were proven he should be "hung in a public square".