PESHAWAR: The district and sessions judge of Peshawar has granted transit bail to former MNA and chairman of the National Democratic Movement Mohsin Dawar and another leader of his party until March 11 in a case about firing at a protest demonstration in North Waziristan tribal district.

The firing killed four protesters and injured several last month.

Judge Ashfaque Taj directed Mohsin Dawar and Rahim Dawar to produce two surety bonds of Rs100,000 each.

He directed them to appear before the relevant court in Bannu district by March 11.

The judge declared that the order would be valid until March 11 and wouldn’t have any effect thereafter.

He directed the petitioners to produce evidence of their appearance before the relevant court on March 18.

Mohammad Yousaf, Saud Dawar and other lawyers appeared for the petitioners and said their clients were named in a fabricated case registered by the Bannu counter-terrorism department on Feb 10 under different provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code and Anti-Terrorism Act.

They insisted that the case was registered on “mala fide intentions and political grounds.”

The counsel said the petitioners, along with other NDM members, were protesting near the office of the returning officer in the Miramshah cantonment area against the “manipulation” of election results in the local National Assembly constituency.

They added that the law-enforcement agencies fired at peaceful protesters, critically injuring many, including petitioner Mohsin Dawar, and that four of the injured died afterwards.

The lawyers claimed that instead of registering an FIR against the relevant personnel of law- enforcement agencies, the FIR was registered against the petitioners.

The complainant in the FIR was additional SHO of Miramshah police station Mohammad Nawaz, who claimed that Mohsin Dawar, Rahim Dawar and other suspects were present near the office of the returning officer in Miramshah, along with 300–400 people, as they were angry at their “defeat” in the election.

He alleged that the suspects asked their supporters to attack security and police personnel, prompting them to fire gunshots at those personnel.

The complainant claimed that the security and police personnel returned fire in “self-defence.”

He added that police learned that some protesters got injured because of firing by “miscreants” and were taken to the hospital.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2024