KARACHI, Oct 20: A worker of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) who was arrested for protesting over the Oct 12 army action against his party’s government was released on Monday night after remaining in jail for three years.

Iqbal Awan was among the 17 PML-N workers who had held a protest on Oct 14, 1999, against the dismissal of Nawaz Sharif’s government at the Regal Chowk. The Preedy police arrested the PML-N activists, including Mushahid Ullah and four women, and booked them under Section 188 of the Pakistan Penal Code, for causing breach of peace.

They were, however, given bail in the case on Oct 21 and all of them, except Mr Awan, were released accordingly. Fahim Riyaz Siddiqui appeared for the PML-N workers.

At the time of his arrest the PML-N activist was on bail in a kidnapping for ransom case, being tried by an anti-terrorism court. But the case, registered by the Ibrahim Haidri police against him and four others, was transferred from the ATC to the district and sessions court, East, following his arrest and the bail granted to him by the ATC stood cancelled.

On Saturday, the district and sessions judge, East — Imam Bux Soomro — acquitted all the five accused, including Mr Awan, in the kidnapping for ransom case and ordered his release. The jail authorities, however, did not release Mr Awan for want of intimation from the court regarding the status of the bail granted to him in the procession case.

His counsel, Fahim Riyaz Siddiqui, moved an application to the concerned judicial magistrate on Monday morning praying the court to intimate the jail authorities that the bail granted to his client was still intact. The magistrate issued the intimation letter to the jail authorities who set the PML-N worker free at around 8pm.

The PML-N worker and four others — Shahzad, Abid, Nasir and Ms Shahnaz — were prosecuted for kidnapping a three-year-old boy on June 27, 1997. The judge exonerated all of them from all charges as the prosecution could not prove its case.