PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday granted bail to 16 people charged with setting fire to shops and vehicles during sectarian violence in Kohat district over a month ago.

Justice Musarrat Hilali of a single-member bench asked seven petitioners named in the FIR to furnish two surety bonds each valuing Rs500,000 and the rest to produce two surety bonds each valuing Rs200,000.

The judge observed that it was unfortunate that shops and properties of innocent people were torched in sectarian violence, while when blasphemous caricatures were published abroad, enraged people not only damaged public properties but also looted them in Peshawar.

The FIR of the violence was registered at Kohat City police station on Nov 18 after a religious group took out a rally against sectarian clashes in Rawalpindi on Ashura.

The rally in Kohat had resulted into violence during which around two dozens shops and three vehicles were torched at Tirah Bazaar.

Following the violence, police arrested several people, including petitioners Haider Khan, Wakeel, Shakil Siddiqui, Islamuddin, Faheem Ahmad and others.

Saeed Khan and Ibrar Alam, lawyers for the petitioners, said Assistant Sub-Inspector Nayyar Abbas had registered the FIR wherein he had stated that police were on routine patrol when they heard about violence in the area and when they reached there they saw 150 to 160 people armed with sticks damage shops and torch the same.

They said seven of the petitioners were named in the FIR and were arrested by the police, whereas remaining nine were not named in the FIR but were arrested later on.

The lawyers said police had not named any witness of the violence and that when a mob was involved arson attack, then it was difficult for police to identify who were the perpetrators and who were passersby or only spectators.

BAIL DENIED: The same bench dismissed bail petitions of two people charged with smuggling charas in a truck to Punjab.

Deputy Attorney General Mohammad Iqbal Mohmand, who appeared for the state, told the bench that the Customs Intelligence had prior information about smuggling of contraband on Oct 15.

He said when the officials stopped a truck here, they found 46kg of charas concealed in secret cavities following which two petitioners Imtiazullah and Ziaullah, who were boarding the truck, were arrested.

Mr Mohmand said the arrested men were not entitled to the grant of bail for being charged under Section 9-C of the Control of Narcotics Substance Act under which the said offence was punishable to life imprisonment or death penalty.