LARKANA: The fifth additional sessions judge of Larkana has granted interim pre-arrest bail to former adviser to the chief minister Mir Mohammed Amin Mengal in a sum of Rs50,000 in a case pertaining to his act of chairing a jirga recently at his resident to settle a property-cum-kidnapping dispute.

The bail will be taken up by the court for confirmation or otherwise on April 20.

Mir Mengal, along with 26 other people, was booked in the case registered at the Kanga police station of Larkana. He had acted as the chief arbitrator in the matter taken to him by the aggrieved side for a settlement.

In a brief interaction with local journalists, Mir Mengal distanced himself from those who had organised the jirga. He maintained that a woman, Noor Bibi, had approached him for a settlement stating that her son, Ali Ahmed Brohi, had been kidnapped and feared to have been killed ostensibly by some of her relatives who had purchased a piece of land in her village and wanted her to leave the village. She said she was unwilling to leave the village.

Larkana police take remand of two other accused, demolish homes of several others

Mir Mengal said he, using his influence, settled the matter when both sides appeared ready to accept his arbitration. “Coincidently, the issue of the alleged abduction of Ali Ahmed Borhi surfaced. Therefore, it was decided that if in future it was confirmed that the man was kidnapped and killed, then the accused side would pay a fine of Rs5 million,” he added.

On Saturday, the Kanga police produced two of the accused persons, Saifullah Brohi and Abdul Rasool Brohi, in the court of the fifth senior civil judge and judicial magistrate for allegedly organising a jirga at Mir Mengal’s residence.

They were remanded in police custody for three days. The police were conducting raids at different places to pick up the other co-accused in the jirga case. The Larkana police had on Friday demolished homes of several accused who had gone into hiding.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2023