QUETTA: District and Sessions Judge Rashid Mehmood remanded on Saturday Gazain Marri in the custody of Kohlu Levies for five days in a bomb blast case.

Gazain Marri, son of Baloch nationalist leader the late Khair Bakhsh Marri, was produced in the court of the Quetta District and Sessions Judge amid tight security.

Advocate Arbab Tahir, representing Mr Marri, said that he requested the court to remand his client in judicial custody after Levies officials produced the copy of the First Information Report (5) 2004 before the judge.

The judge, after hearing the arguments, remanded Mr Marri in the custody of Kohlu Levies and ordered that the suspect be interrogated in Quetta rather than in Kohlu.

Seven other people, who were arrested along with Mr Marri on his arrival from Dubai at Quetta airport after ending 18 years of self-exile, were produced before the Judicial Magistrate Mohammad Hanif Mengal by police.

The magistrate released all of them and ordered that they deposit a surety bond of Rs30,000 each.

Gazain Marri was arrested by law enforcement agencies at Quetta airport after he arrived from Dubai on Friday.

“We had filed an application against Gazain Marri’s illegal detention, but the court rejected our plea,” Advocate Tahir told reporters outside the court.

He said the FIR of the Kohlu blast was lodged in 2004, while Gazain Marri had left the country in 2000.

Heavy contingents of Frontier Corps and police were deployed around the court and the road leading to it. No one was allowed to enter the area.

A large number of supporters and members of the Marri tribe gathered near the court carrying placards and photos of Mr Marri.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2017