SHC grants protective bail to Mustafa Kamal in NAB reference

The Sindh High Court on Friday granted protective pre-arrest bail to former city Nazim and Pak Saarzameen Party (PSP) leader Mustafa Kamal in a corruption reference.

Kamal had filed petition in the high court for obtaining pre-arrest bail in the NAB reference pertaining to alleged commercial conversion of KMC land in the Clifton area, which was allotted for the purpose of a hawkers’ zone and later sold to a private builder.

The petitioner’s counsel, Hassan Sabir, submitted that the petitioner had been falsely implicated in the case as he had nothing to do with the offence. He further said that an accountability court had issued a notice, and expressed apprehension about his client’s arrest at the hands of NAB.

A division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro, after the preliminary hearing of the petition, granted interim protective bail to the former city Nazim and directed him to surrender before the trial court.

The court also issued notices to NAB and others to file their comments.

Kamal’s explanation

Showing displeasure and embarrassment over a National Accountability Bureau’s reference against him, Pak Sarzameen Party chairman Mustafa Kamal said on Friday he had served the city honestly as Nazim, and revamped the entire civic infrastructure of the metropolis.

On Friday, the Sindh High Court approved Kamal’s request for protective bail.

Addressing a press conference at the Pakistan House, the party’s secretariat, Kamal said three plots were the property of the same individual and they were merged into one property after approval from the city council.

“However, when the move was objected, the same person approached the court of law and again restored on their previous positions. There was no allotment made in this process,” he said.

Kamal said that NAB had filed against him a totally fake case, which had neither a head nor a tail. “How could Kamal allot a piece of land when he was not authorised to do so,” he questioned. “I have never allotted any land, and the allegations are baseless and fabricated. My credibility is my only asset,” said the former city mayor.

He said the portion was allotted back in 1982, years before he assumed the charge of Nazim in 2005 and remained in office till 2010.

PSP president Anees Qaimkhani and members of the National Council of the party also accompanied Kamal in the presser.