QUETTA: Nawabzada Gazain Marri, son of the late Baloch nationalist leader Khair Bakhsh Marri, has categorically denied that he returned to the country after making a deal with the government and said he came back to serve his people.

“My return to the country is not a result of any deal with any government,” he said, adding that he did not believe in secret deals.

He was talking to journalists on Wednesday after appearing before the court of the judicial magistrate who remanded him in police custody for two days in a case registered against him in the Industrial Area police station.

Police produced Mr Marri in court and sought his custody for interrogation in the case. A heavy contingent of police and Frontier Corps was deployed in and around the court.

Mr Marri said that the dilemma of the Marri tribe was not hidden from anyone, and being a tribal man “I will work first for my own people and then decide my political activities”.

“Had my return to the country been a result of a deal, I would not have appeared before courts. I will face all cases against myself in the court of law.”

In reply to a question about the cases against him, the former Balochistan home minister said he got bail in the all cases, but the government was lodging new ones against him every day.

“The provincial government is getting personal with me,” he alleged, adding that he would not blame anyone for creating hurdles in the way of his release. However, he said the provincial home minister was handling law and order affairs and cases against him.

Answering a question, Mr Marri said he had not yet decided to join any political party. He said that presently he was facing cases in courts and after that he would be in a position to take a decision about joining any political party.

About his relation with his elder brother MPA Nawab Jangayz Marri, who is chieftain of the Marri tribe, he said: “I don’t have any personal issues with my brother; he has his own opinion, ideology and politics and I have my own.”

Police again arrested Mr Marri on Tuesday late night after his release from Quetta district jail on the orders of the Balochistan High Court. The court had declared his arrest under Section 3 of the Main­tenance of Public Ordinance illegal after hearing a petition challenging his detention under the MPO law.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2017