SUKKUR: The local accountability court on Monday recorded statement of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Maula Bux Soomro in a corruption reference against Adviser to the Chief Minister on Prisons Mir Aijaz Jakhrani and adjourned the hearing to Sept 6 due to absence of the suspect’s lawyer.

Mr Jakhrani, a senior Pakistan Peoples Party leader, is facing two references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which has accused him of having accumulated assets worth Rs1.1 billion.

NAB alleges that the accumulated funds are beyond his known sources of income.

Mr Soomro appeared before Judge Fareed Anwar Qazi to record his statement. Later, speaking to the media outside the court, he said Aijaz Jakhrani came to the court along with heavily armed private guards in addition to official security “to harass NAB, court and witnesses”.

Mr Jakhrani also addressed a press conference in Sukkur House joined by Arsalan Islam Shaikh, CM’s Adviser on Sukkur affairs. Mr Jakhrani said PPP always respected the judiciary but law should be equally applicable to every citizen. He repeated his claim that neither he nor his son was among those who allegedly attacked NAB’s team that had visited his house in Jacobabad on June 29 to arrest him.

He disclosed that a proposal was being considered to shift the women’s and children’s wards from the district jail to some other place outside the city. The proposal would be presented in the assembly after consultation with the chief minister, he added.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2021