PESHAWAR: The police on Friday re-arrested central president of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Youth Wing Meena Khan Afridi and party activist Jalal Mohmand after their release on bail in a case of the May 9-10 violent protests in Faqirabad area, which claimed two lives.

Additional district and sessions judge Attaullah Jan ordered the release of the two after accepting their joint bail petition on the condition of furnishing two surety bonds of Rs90,000 each.

However, they were taken into custody by officials of the Hashtnagri police in another case of the May 9-10 riots registered by their police station, according to police sources.

The two petitioners were re-arrested on June 10, too, after their release from the Peshawar Central Prison on bail granted by an anti-terrorism court in another case of violent protests, which led to the killing of a man near the Balahisar Fort here.

Local court earlier granted bail to Meena, Jalal over May 9-10 riots

A family member of Meena Khan told Dawn that the Peshawar High Court would be moved to obtain information about the cases registered by the police against the PTI Youth Wing’s president.

The FIR of the case in which the court granted bail was registered by the Faqirabad police station on May 10 under different provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The prosecution claimed that the two petitioners as well as some co-accused along with the local PTI leaders, who were part of a mob, indiscriminately fired gunshots injuring two people, including Javeed and Bilal, who later breathed their last.

Initially, the police registered the FIR against unidentified accused on the complaint of the SHO. However, the two petitioners along with some co-accused were charged with violence during the investigation.

The judge observed that neither the petitioners were arrested by the local police at the site of the crime nor were they named as the accused by the legal heirs of the deceased, so the matter required further inquiry.

He added that there were no records to suggest that the SHO concerned had identified the petitioners as the accused through an identification parade.

The judge also ruled that no recovery of any incriminating articles had been made from the possession of the petitioners or on their pointation.

He observed that the petitioners remained in the police’s custody but they did not make any confession.

The judge ruled that some co-accused nominated in the case having an identical role were released on bail by the court on May 27, 2023, so the “rule of consistency” required the acceptance of the bail plea of the petitioners.

REMANDED: An anti-terrorism court has sent three people to jail on a 14-day remand over the May 9-10 violent protests and attack against the police and Frontier Corps posts in Jamrud area of Khyber tribal district.

The police’s investigation officer produced the suspects, including Abdul Mateen, Abdul Ghani and Saleheen, in the court and said all three were named in the FIR for not only attacking public property but also using derogatory language against state institutions.

He said physical custody of the suspects was required for interrogation.

However, the court sent them to prison on a 14-day remand.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2023