PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Friday granted interim bail to Makhdoom Shahabuddin, the first choice of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) for the office of prime minister, DawnNews reported.

Lawyer for Makhdoom Shahabuddin said that ANF personnel wanted to arrest his client at the Punjab-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border in order to stop him from contesting the elections for the prime ministers office.

He requested the court to grant interim bail to his client in order to enable him to contest the prime ministorial elections.

Talking to the media on the occasion, Shahbuddin said that the arrest warrant would not have been issued, had he not been nominated for the prime minister's office.

He added that a case was filed against him in the previous year but the arrest warrant was issued on Thurday June 21 2012, on the same day that his candidature for the prime minsters office had been announced.

President Zardari had nominated Shahabuddin as a candidate for the new prime minister and Shahabuddin  had also filed his nomination papers for the slot on Thursday.

An hour later, the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) issued warrants against Shahabuddin, Musa Gilani and one other person in the ep.