ISLAMABAD, Oct 19: The Aabpara police on Friday arrested a man on the charge of distributing pamphlets criticising a cleric of Lal Masjid for conducting a news conference in favour of property tycoon Malik Riaz and against the judiciary.

The arrested man was identified as Hafiz Ehtesham, whose cousin Maqsood was killed during the Lal Masjid operation in 2007.

Inspector Jamshed Khan, the station house officer (SHO) of Aabpara, told Dawn that Ehtesham was spotted distributing the pamphlets against Maulana Amir Siddique in front of the mosque.

The pamphlets stated that Amir Siddique had conducted a news conference on October 11 at Lal Masjid against the judiciary and the chief justice of Pakistan. It said Amir Siddique used the mosque for politics at the behest of some hidden hands.

During the press conference, it added, the cleric alleged that the chief justice had put all the systems at stake to save his son Arsalan Iftikhar. He had demanded constitution of a commission, comprising Aitzaz Ahsan, Asma Jahangir, Ali Ahmed Kurd and Justice (retired) Tariq Mehmood, to probe into the allegations against Arsalan Iftikhar.

The pamphlets demanded that the Naib Khateeb should resign from the post.

It may be noted that fingers have been raised on Amir Siddique because he received a vehicle from property tycoon Malik Riaz and reached Lal Masjid from a mosque located in Sector H-9. Amir Siddique had also confirmed at the press conference that he got the vehicle from Malik Riaz but said he sold it and purchased an ambulance which was being used for patients in a far-flung area of Pakistan.—Staff Reporter