MUZAFFARABAD, June 26: A leader of Peoples Party Azad Kashmir and three others from his party and its student wing, who were arrested on Saturday night, were shifted to an infamous police station on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad in the wee hours of Sunday where their supporters feared they could be tortured.

Khawaja Farooq Ahmed, former minister for local government and rural development in the previous PPAJK government, his party’s deputy chief organizer Shaukat Javed Mir and PSF leaders Raja Faisal Azad and Ahsan Kazmi were arrested after police baton-charged their rally on Bank Road moments before the AJK prime minister’s cavalcade passed from there.

The demonstrators had assembled on the bustling road to “record their protest against the alleged deduction of development funds and non-establishment of medical and naval cadet colleges in Muzaffarabad.”

Since the AJK premier was to pass through the same route to address a function, the officials on duty ordered the demonstrators to disperse before his arrival but they refused saying they only wanted to stage a peaceful protest along the roadside.

Upon this, the police resorted to baton-charge, which left at least seven people including the former minister wounded critically.

A police official who did not want to be named told Dawn that they had information that the demonstrators wanted to stop the premier’s convoy and therefore they had to resort to baton-charge only to disperse them from the scene.

However, witnesses said the police particularly the civil secretariat police station SHO were so merciless that when an injured person who was already profusely bleeding took shelter in a colleague’s vehicle they dragged him out and gave a fresh bout of thrashing.

The police also hit and damaged the vehicle, a Toyota Corolla car, with batons and rifle butts and later impounded it. A plainclothesman from the AJK special branch and a photojournalist Haroon Qureshi also endured the wrath of policemen and were rescued by their colleagues.

The detainees were initially kept at civil secretariat and city police stations but after midnight they were removed to Dalai camp and from there to Danna police station, some 35 kilometres from here.

“They have been removed to the infamous police station for mental and physical torture. The government’s intentions are also clear from the fact that so far the detainees have not been taken to any hospital for treatment,” said PPAJK leader Agha Dildar.

Police sources said that the detainees had been booked under sections 147, 148, 149, 186, 341 353, 324 of Azad Penal Code and sections 12, 13 of Emergency Power Act, which deal with rioting, attempts for murder, attack on government officials and obstruction in official duty etc.

They were remanded by the additional district magistrate in police custody for 10 days, the sources said.

Khawaja Farooq, who is also a practising lawyer, told some of the party leaders who met the detainees in Danna police station on Sunday that no magistrate from executive was authorized to grant their remand.

Accusing police of resorting to “ruthless lathi-charge under the direct orders of prime minister” he demanded judicial inquiry into the incident.

An administration official, when contacted, said that the detainees were “about to be released on bail.” But his claim could not be confirmed as the prisoners were still behind the bars till the filing of this report.