• FIR lodged against Chanesar Town chairman Farhan Ghani on terrorism, attempted murder charges
• This is not a political matter and we will address it through legal means, says elder brother

KARACHI: Chanesar Town chairman Farhan Ghani, younger brother of senior Pakistan Peoples Party leader and local government minister Saeed Ghani, was booked, arrested and remanded in a terrorism and attempted murder case for allegedly assaulting a government employee overseeing fibre optic network laying work on Sharea Faisal.

Police got one-day remand of Farhan from a duty magistrate on Sunday. He will be produced before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday (today).

In a statement, Saeed Ghani, who is also the president of the PPP Karachi division, said that a dispute occurred on Sharea Faisal within the remit of the Chanesar Town and a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against his brother Farhan and some others. “Soon after, Farhan and his associates voluntarily surrendered themselves to the authorities.

“This is a legal matter, not a political one, and we will address it through legal means,” the elder Ghani said.

Earlier, the Ferozabad police registered a case under Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 324 (attempted murder), 342 (wrongful confinement), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 379 (theft), 506-B (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Without identifying his department, complainant Hafiz Sohail Jadoon told the police that he is a “government employee” and was supervising fibre optic network laying work on Sharea Faisal on Aug 22.

He stated at around 4:47pm, around 20-25 persons, including Chanesar Town chairman Farhan, in three vehicles arrived there and asked him whether he had permission to dig up Sharea Faisal. He said he told them that he had all permissions but some of them misbehaved with him and asked him to stop the work immediately. The complainant said when he insisted that he had all required no-objection certificates, they started using smear language and beating him.

He said they dragged him at gunpoint to a room of a nearby fuel station where they kept him in illegal confinement and continued beating him. In the meantime, a police team arrived there, rescued him and took him to the police station where he lodged the FIR.

On Sunday, the investigating officer (IO) produced three suspects, including Mr Farhan, before Judicial Magistrate (East) Waseem Abbas and sought their one-day police custody.

The IO informed the court that the suspects had been arrested on terrorism charges and their custody was required to apprehend their remaining accomplices with their help and to check their criminal record.

He further submitted that since the case was registered under terrorism charges and ATCs remained closed on Sunday, he was seeking their one-day custody to produce them before the concerned anti-terrorism court for remand.

After hearing the IO, the duty magistrate granted one-day physical custody of the suspects and directed him to produce them before the administrative judge of the ATCs on Monday (today).

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2025