ISLAMABAD, June 12: The Supreme Court on Thursday granted bail to three persons accused of murdering former Sindh governor Hakim Said after the provincial government stated that it would not object to the release of the accused.

Advocate-General Sindh Anwar Mansoor told the SC bench headed by Chief Justice Shaikh Riaz Ahmad that the provincial government would not raise any objection if the three accused, out of a total nine, were granted bail.

The prosecution said the accused were active members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. On one previous hearing, Sindh Planning and Development Minister Shoaib Bukhari and MQM MPA Idrees Siddiqui were present in the court. Qazi Khalid, a former provincial minister and now additional advocate-general, was present in the court when Mr Mansoor made the concession for the release of the accused.

The trial court had awarded death penalty to nine for the murder of Hakim Said and two others, but the Sindh High Court had acquitted them all, giving them benefit of doubt.

On an appeal of the Sindh government, the Supreme Court had suspended the operation of the SHC judgment and issued non-bailable warrants for all the accused. It had issued the directive that all of them should be arrested and kept in the Karachi central jail till the Sindh government’s appeal was decided.

Of the nine accused, the Sindh government could arrest only three.

When the accused’s application for bail was taken up by the SC bench on Thursday, the advocate-general rose to make the statement that his government would not object if their application was accepted.

The court accepted the request and ordered that accused Abu Imran Pasha, Mohammad Zubair and Nadeem Mota be released on submission of Rs2 million bail bond, and the personal surety in the like amount.

Akram Shaikh, counsel for the accused, stated that in cases in which the lower court had acquitted a person, bailable warrants were issued. But in the case of his clients, he added, non-bailable warrants were issued.