Karachi: An antiterrorism court (ATC) on Saturday extended bail to Zulfiqar Mirza, the former home minister of Sindh province, till June 10, but summoned the provincial government in another case that sought confiscation of Mirza’s passport.
Mirza appeared in the ATC for extension of his interim bail in three different cases, which were registered against him by traders of Badin district, his hometown, where his supporters allegedly forcibly got the city shut and looted many shops.
The court also issued notices to Mirza and the government of Sindh to appear in court to explain their positions with regard to another plea of the traders. The traders pleaded with the court to order the government to confiscate Mirza’s passport.
The complainants maintained Mirza intended to travel abroad and would not return once he left the country. They requested the court his passport should be in government custody as long as pending cases against him were disposed off.
The former home minister, who was a very close friend of former president Asif Ali Zardari, defected from the party as well as Zardari all of a sudden. Mirza also started abusing and accusing Zardari for his financial and moral corruption.
He also criticised Faryal Talpur, the elder sister of Zardari, and a legislator, for virtually running the government in Sindh province and allegedly being involved in corruption.
The cases against Mirza were registered when he stormed into police station at his hometown and abused the duty officer. More cases followed as he kept volleying abusive language and hurling threats to Zardari as well as the police.
Meanwhile, Sharjil Inam Memon, provincial information minister, who is another confidant of Talpur and Zardari, issued a notice to a local television channel for running a news item regarding an alleged raid at his home and claiming two billion rupees (Dh72 million) were recovered by law enforcement agencies.
