ISLAMABAD: The district administration on Friday withdrew its order of last week to arrest local leaders of religious political parties for the maintenance of public order.

The order for arresting the local leaders was issued as a precautionary measure hours before the Supreme Court judgement acquitting Aasia Bibi on Oct 31, an officer of the capital administration said.

He said that police were asked to put the leaders under preventative detention so they do not participate in protests against the judgement and vandalism.

Under the order, 18 leaders were to be detained as they were considered a threat to peace and law and order. However, the situation in the capital changed very quickly and so no arrest was made as police officials were engaged in other duties.

After the conclusion of the protest, the capital police approached the capital administration and sought further instructions over the orders to arrest the 18 local leaders, the officer said, as no arrests were made and the law and order situation had returned to normal.

Action will be taken against these 18 leaders if they were involved in vandalism during the protests and cases have already been registered against those involved, the official said.

He added that five cases had been registered in Kural, Shahzad Town, Sihala, Bhara Kahu and Industrial Area against 600 activists, supporters and leaders and 66 of them have been arrested, he said.

There is no need for the preventative detention of the local leaders of religious political parties and so the order to arrest them was withdrawn, the official said.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018