GUJRAT: Gujrat Mayor Haji Nasir Mahmood was set free on Saturday.

He was taken into custody from the deputy commissioner office on Thursday.

He was detained without registration of any case whereas Deputy Commissioner Tauseef Dilshad Kathana had also declined to issue his detention orders under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order as the district police officer had recommended his detention.

The DC had reportedly expressed his annoyance over the mayor’s arrest from his office and took it as a breach of his office decorum since the mayor was there to attend an official meeting.

Meanwhile, scores of local PML-N leaders and workers, including ex-MNA Chaudhry Mubashar Husain, ex MPAs Haider Mehdi, Moin Nawaz and Shabeer Kotla, were released from police captivity after the acceptance of their bail petitions by the local courts of Gujrat, Kharian and Sara-i-Alamgir on Saturday.

Dozens of PML-N workers were arrested across the district when they were on their way to Lahore on Friday to welcome party leader Nawaz Sharif on his arrival from London.

Four cases under different sections, including attempt to murder, had been lodged against hundreds of PML-N workers at various police stations of the district.

It is learnt that the local authorities, as per the directions of the provincial government, have ordered release of 16 Nawaz League workers who were arrested during a crackdown some three days ago.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2018