BAHAWALPUR, Jan 31: Prince Saeedul Rashid Abbasi, son of the late Amir of Bahawalpur and a former minister, has demanded an impartial inquiry into the gutting of the railway saloon of his father at Bahawalpur Railway Station and thefts of antiques from the historic Sadiq Garh Palace in Dera Nawab Sahib.

In a statement issued from Dera Nawab Sahib, Prince Saeed, who was not eligible to contest the October elections, condemned the burning of his father’s saloon and described it as an organised intrigue against the family. He expressed apprehension that the gang of thieves which frequently burgled the Palace’s sealed basement could also set fire to the historic building.

The former MNA said that the government, while taking into possession the property of late Nawab Sir Sadiq Mohammad Khan Abbasi, had appointed his elder brother, late Brig Mohammad Abbas Abbasi, as its supervisor in 1969, who, however, “failed to supervise it effectively”.

He claimed that he had brought these thefts and fires to the notice of the federal government through letters but to no avail.

He said the railway garage where his late father’s saloon was stationed, was a strong building as were the other buildings of Nawab set on fire earlier and could not be torched easily. He said the railway garage could not have been set on fire by some addict as indicated by some unofficial reports.

The Prince claimed that many of Nawab’s buildings had been set on fire in the past to conceal removal of costly articles from there.

He said that under a verdict of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the property of his late father, which was worth millions, was to be shared by the Nawab’s legitimate heirs. Such fires had become more frequent since the verdict and should be probed by an independent body, he concluded.