KOHAT, July 7: The local police arrested three more religious leaders during a hunt for the remaining 23 people charged in the FIR for maligning the role of Pakistan army in their public speeches and condemning the search-and-kill operations against Al-Qaeda men as angry mobs continued their protests on the fifth consecutive day here on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the police shifted Javed Ibraheem Paracha, former PML MNA, to Dera Ismail Khan central prison on Saturday evening amid tight security.

He had been charged with raising an objectionable slogan during the Thursday’s protest meeting. The exact wording of the slogan had been mentioned in the FIR, which is now sealed on the instructions of the higher authorities.

Jamaat-i-Islami’s Dr Abdur Rabbi and Islamic Business Forum’s Abid Paracha were sent to the Haripur central prison.

The khateeb of Jarma Jamaa mosque was also arrested from a madressah on Saturday night. Later, the local people blocked the Indus Highway near the place of the encounter, where four Al-Qaeda men were killed by the police, for about three hours.

They were demanding immediate release of their leaders and handing over of the bodies of Al-Qaeda men to them for burial.

The police resorted to light baton charge and fired tear-gas shells to disperse the protesters.