PESHAWAR, Sept 26: Advocate Khurshid Ahmad, who sprayed black colour on the face of government’s counsel Advocate Ahmad Raza Kasuri, has said that he has no remorse for his act and is ready to face consequences.

Addressing a Press conference at the Peshawar Press Club here on Wednesday, Advocate Khurshid Ahmad said he had evaluated all consequences of his action before spraying colour on the face of Ahmad Raza Kasuri. He was accompanied by senior lawyers of Peshawar including Advocate Qaiser Khurshid, Karim Masood, Ghulam Nabi, Arif Khan and Habib-ur-Rehman during the press conference.

Mr Ahmad condemned the NWFP police for keeping him for 18 hours in illegal detention, saying that he would file a habeas corpus petition against the NWFP police.

He alleged that over 80 policemen of the Punjab and local police force knocked at his house at 12.30am on Monday and took him to the Yaka Toot Police Station.

Later, he said, they blindfolded him and drove him to the Tatara Police Station in Hayatabad, where they kept him for some time. “I asked them to provide me medicine as I am a patient of diabetes, but the policemen didn’t provide me medicine,” he said.

After Sehri, he said, police took him to the University Town police station where he was detained in a room. Then, he said, they shifted him to the Shari Police Station and tried to shift him to Punjab.

He said when lawyers blocked the Khyber Road, the police produced him in the court of District and Sessions Judge Muftahuddin. He said though the judge had granted him bail, police were reluctant to release him.

Later, he said, the lawyers got him freed from clutches of the Peshawar police.

Mr Khan claimed that spraying black paint on the face of what he called an ‘anti-people’ lawyer was a ‘decent and civilised way’ of protest.

“I have done nothing unusual. I have not harmed him. He was abusing and hurling threats to those lawyers who are struggling for the independence of judiciary,” he observed.

He said he had launched a movement under the name of Munh Kala Kar Tehreek, pledging that members of this movement would blacken faces of all those who were involved in ‘anti-people’ activities.

He asserted that it was a political activism and not a criminal activity. Mr Khan said that Islamabad police had charged him under PPC 337-L (2), which didn’t apply to him as he had not injured Mr Qasuri.

Mr Khan said that the entire nation had seen how Mr Qasuri behaved with opposition lawyers in a recent TV channel debate.

Mr Khan said he knew the people would no longer tolerate high-handedness of the police and security agencies, adding that the legal fraternity had set the course of freedom in the country and now it was the duty of civil society to defend basic human rights, independence of judiciary and work for the restoration of true democracy in the country.

He claimed that his anger against advocate Ahmad Raza

Kasuri was not because he was a counsel for the government, but because of his misconduct and abusive language against senior lawyers and the entire legal community. “My action is the reaction of my inner feelings which I felt

due to language of Advocate Ahmad Raza Kasuri,” Mr Khurshid added.

“Tolerance has some limits and no one should act in such a manner that other losses his patience and react in anger,” remarked Mr Khurshid.

He rejected rumours that he did this for gaining cheap popularity, saying that he had also launched a movement against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq and was flogged by the martial law administrator because of his dissenting views.