HYDERABAD, Jan 28: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl), Hyderabad and Matiari chapters, on Sunday urged the president of Pakistan to order immediate release of Aijaz Ali Khoso who they claimed had been picked up by some plain-clothed agency personnel on September 23 last year.

JUI-F District President Maulana Taj Mohammad Nahiyoon and JUI-F Matiari President Haji Sarang Mangwano said at a news conference at the press club that according to reports published in newspapers Jamshoro police arrested Aijaz Ali Khoso on charges of possessing explosive substance and holding membership of a banned organisation.

Some agency men in mufti picked him up from Bakra Mandi stop in Hyderabad on September 23 last year and the news about his arrest was published in newspapers on January 25, they said.

They said that they had met with DIG Hyderabad and ASP Cantonment and also sent a petition to the president and prime minister of Pakistan, Sindh governor and chief minister but they had so far received no response from any quarter.

They insisted that Mr Khoso was not a member of any banned outfit but a sincere worker of JUI-F. He was pursuing his PhD degree at the Karachi University after finishing his Mufti course at Binnori Town Madrassah, they said.

They said that Mr Khoso was a peaceful citizen who had nothing to do with explosives or terrorist activities and appealed to the president to appoint some honest officers to probe into the charges and order his release.

They also urged the superior judiciary and human rights organisations to take notice of the incident.

PPP: People’s Party Parliamentarians and Mirpurkhas President PPP Pir Aftab Hussain Shah Jilani and several other party office-bearers have condemned bomb explosion in Peshawar.