GUJRAT, Oct 12: Security agencies on Thursday handed over the Hariya union council nazim to the Malikwal police besides releasing his brother, a doctor by profession.

The agencies with the help of rangers had conducted a raid for the arrest of an army absconder, Ali Ahmad, in the Rawalpindi Ayub Park blast case on Oct 6. The raid at the residence of Haria UC nazim advocate Abdur Rauf Gondal at Bhagowal village had led to a shootout as inmates took the `intruders’ as dacoits because they were in civvies. The shootout had left a rangers official dead.

The agencies arrested Rauf Gondal and shifted him to a place at Rawalpindi for interrogation, besides arresting his brother Dr Zafar Gondal from Lahore. The Malikwal police meanwhile registered a murder case against Rauf Gondal for killing the rangers official.

Later, the agencies conducted a successful raid at Bhullar village and arrested absconder Ali Ahmad.

The arrest of Rauf Gondal and Dr Zafar Gondal had sparked protests among the lawyers and medical communities. The Lahore and Mandi Bahauddin chapters of the Pakistan Medical Associations held protest meetings against the arrest of Dr Zafar Gondal. They threatened to observe a provincewide strike if the agencies did not free Zafar Gondal by Oct 16.

Similarly, lawyers of the Malikwal bar on Thursday observed strike and boycotted courts.