KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday approved the protective bail of Khawaja Izharul Hassan, opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly, in a hate speech case for seven days.

A two-judge bench gave him bail in the sum of Rs50,000 and ordered him to approach the trial court for further legal remedy.

He submitted that the police had exonerated him from charges for `lack of evidence` in the case registered at the SITE Superhighway police station.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader said that he wanted to appear before the trial court for his defence but he apprehended his arrest as the police did not submit its report regarding his release before the administrative judge of the antiterrorism courts despite orders.

The case was one of over 150 cases registered against Muttahida Qaumi Movement founder Altaf Hussain for allegedly criticising military establishment and security agencies of the country in a telephonic speech in July.

Besides the party self-exiled chief, several other central leaders, including Farooq Sattar, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Rashid Godil, were nominated in the FIRs lodged by people in different police stations across the city.

The case against the party founder and leaders was registered under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging or attempting or abetting war against the country), 122 (collection of arms with intention to wage war), 123-A (condemning the creation of the country and advocating the abolishment of its sovereignty) and 109 (abetment) of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 25-D of the Telegraph Act and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Officers get pre-arrest bail The Sindh High Court on Tuesday granted pre-arrest bail to three officers of the provincial information department in a multi-billion rupee corruption case against 17 accused, including former provincial information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon.

A two-judge bench approved the bail of the three officers Altaf Hussain Memon, Umer Shahzad Khan and Sarang Latif in the sum of Rs1 million each for seven days and directed them to approach the trial court for further legal remedy.

The court issued notices to the prosecutor general of the National Accountability Bureau and the interior ministry directing them to file their respective comments on the ball pleas of the accused.

The bench also directed the interior ministry to place the name of the three accused officers of the provincial information department on the exit control list and not to issue them passports.

The NAB on Saturday filed before the administrative judge of the accountability courts a reference against former provincial information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon and others for committing corruption in the award of advertisements of the provincial government`s awareness campaigns in electronic media involving over Rs5 billion.

The reference, sent by the NAB chairman, said that the investigation was conducted regarding corruption and corrupt practices in the advertisement awareness campaigns on TV and FM channels between July 2013 and June 2015 and it was found that the accused acted in connivance with each other resulting in a loss of Rs3,279,177,029 to the national exchequer.

According to the reference, six accused have already obtained protective bail from the Sindh High Court, while 11 other accused, including Sharjeel Memon, are absconding in the case.

The former information minister is stated to be living in self-exile either in Dubai or London for the past 18 months.