ISLAMABAD, Dec 20: The former speaker of the National Assembly and vice chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani, was released from Adiyala jail on Friday.

“I was arrested on Feb 10, 2001, without there being a prima facie charge against me,” he told reporters soon after his release from Adiyala jail. He had got bail by the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench, on Thursday.

Gillani, who termed his arrest as an attempt on the part of the military government to gag his voice against the coup and for the restoration of democracy, said he was kept on physical remand in a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) police station for 90 days, maximum period for which one could be held on physical remand under the NAB ordinance.

“Except for solitary captivity, the NAB officials had no purpose for keeping me in their custody, since they had nothing to inquire from me. The only deafening orchestra was to submit and join us,” he added.

Gillani said throughout his confinement of about two years he had been receiving offers of “good and enjoyable life,” at the cost of, what they called, “merely behaving as majority has done.”