SUKKUR: Pakistan Peoples Party leader Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah was accorded a warm welcome by a jubilant crowd of party activists when he was released on bail from the Sukkur Central Jail on Saturday.

He was granted bail in the sum of Rs10 million by the Supreme Court a couple of days ago.

Mr Shah was arrested about 30 months ago in a corruption reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

He remained under treatment most of the time at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Sukkur.

Several hundred PPP workers and supporters had gathered outside the jail to receive Mr Shah after hearing the news of his release.

The jubilant crowd started raising slogans as the PPP leader came out of the jail. They surrounded the elderly politician and kept showering rose petals on him while escorting him to his residence in a slow-moving procession.

At some points along the course of the procession, Mr Shah also spoke to participants of the procession.

He said that his arrest was one of the many attempts to force him to quit the party, but he would never part ways with the PPP. He described his captivity as an unbearable ordeal and reaffirmed his resolve to continue to work for the masses from the PPP platform.

Criticising the government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Mr Shah said it was the “tsunami” brought in by PTI chief Imran Khan which had unleashed unprecedented destruction in the country.

He said he would forbid PPP workers even from uttering this word as the so-called tsunami had pushed up prices of all commodities beyond the reach of the poor and the middle class people.

The inflation, he said, was all-time high in the country’s history, though PM Imran Khan had kept taking notice of the price hike every now and then, but practically he did nothing to bring prices of all commodities under control and in the reach of the masses.

He said the US dollar had also hit the record level in the history of the country against the Pak rupee. It took the rally about seven hours to reach Mr Shah’s residence.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2021