HYDERABAD, Sept 29: The Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit bench, on Wednesday directed the additional advocate-general of Sindh to seek comments from the home department before the next hearing of a constitutional petition of PPP MPA Tariq Masood Arain.

Sindh AAG Masood A. Noorani submitted statements of the Nawabshah DPO and SHOs of A and B-section police stations in which they had denied any harassment to the MPA and said allegations levelled against them were false.

The petitioner had prayed the court to direct the provincial election commission and district returning officer to put an end to undue pressure on brothers of the petitioner, nazim-elect Jawed Iqbal, and Pervez Manzoor, elected naib nazim from Nawabshah.

He said the police should be directed not to arrest the petitioner, his father and brothers without prior permission of the court in any blind FIR.

He said on August 25, respondent Abdul Rauf and Zafar Arain and local police and law-enforcement agencies applied undue pressure upon the petitioner.

They forced his brothers not to participate in elections against government-backed candidates and on refusal the petitioner was arrested and was kept in wrongful confinement on August 25 and released the next day.

The petitioner said the third phase of elections of taluka and district nazim was to begin and the official and private respondents were pressurizing them to vote for government candidates in the election of nazims.