Murtaza jatoi released

HYDERABAD:

After languishing in jail for 11 days the Grand Democratic Alliance’s leader Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi was eventually released on Friday in compliance with an order of the Sindh High Court.

Hundreds of Jatoi’s supporters, led by his wife Naveen Jatoi, gathered outside Nara Jail, Hyderabad, to welcome him.

He was taken back to his hometown, Noushehero Feroze district, in a rally. Large number of his supporters gathered to receive him in many towns and villages along the way on the National Highway. “I sidelined myself from politics because it has become a dirty business,” said Jatoi, son of former caretaker Prime Minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi who also heads the National Peoples Party, as he addressed the crowd and spoke to the media.

“I had even decided not to contest elections next time.” He blamed President Asif Ali Zardari for dragging him back to politics by keeping him jailed through over half a dozen flimsy FIRs which did not stop even while framing him for petty crimes like motorbike snatching.

“I have been blamed for illegally occupying a 1,000 square feet piece of land,” he regretted. According to him, 25% of the land in Moro taluka of Noushehro Feroze district happened to be property of his grandfather.

He blamed the provincial government for creating such absurd cases against him which could not even sustain in the courts of law for a day. Jatoi praised the judiciary and said an overwhelming majority of the courts have been working freely without taking the government’s influence.

Responding to a query about his future in politics, the GDA’s leader said “I wanted to quit politics because today’s politics has become a business of mafia”. “Thieves and ruffians are in control of politics today as the dignified people stand aloof.” However, he said after his recent incarceration he has decided not to leave the people of Sindh at the mercy of a mafia. “I am going to stand with the people until Sindh is liberated from the mafia.”