QUETTA, Nov 24: Two people, who had been acquitted by a trial court in the Gwadar bomb blast case, were arrested from the high court premises here on Thursday under the Maintenance of Public Order-3. Advocate Sadiq Raisani, the counsel of Mohammad Aslam Guagrani and Master Saeed, was also detained.

Aslam Guagrani and Master Saeed had earlier appeared before a division bench of the Balochistan High Court for hearing on an appeal filed by the state against their acquittal by the Anti-Terrorist Court, Quetta. Three other accused in the Gwadar blast case in which some Chinese engineers were killed were also acquitted.

A heavy contingent of police was deployed outside the court from the morning until 5pm when the arrests were made.

After their arrest, Aslam and Master Saeed told newsmen at the main gate of the court that they had been tortured in custody and feared they would be tortured again.

They asserted that the sessions court Khuzdar had granted them bail on security bonds of Rs100,000 each to appear in court on Thursday for the first hearing.

Aslam said that he was a hepatitis patient and Saeed claimed that he had problems in legs.

They said that the trial court had acquitted them and another court had granted bail and their appearance before the court on Thursday proved that they respected law and wanted to face charges in the court because they were innocent.

Senior police officer Rehmatullah Khan Naizi told newsmen that the provincial home secretary had issued the order for their 15-day detention under MPO-3.

Protest: Opposition parties have condemned the arrests of Balochistan National Party activists, Aslam and Saeed, and their lawyer from the court premises.

Speaking at a joint press conference, the opposition leader in the Balochistan Assembly and National Party leader, Kachkol Ali, Akhtar Hussain Lango of the BNP and Qadir Agha of the Pushtoonkhwah Milli Awami Party said the arrests were a violation of human rights.

They said that the BNP activists were arrested from the bar room of the high court which was an incident of contempt of court.

They criticized police for not allowing Mr Ali and Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal, the parliamentary leader of the PMAP in the Balochistan Assembly, to meet the detained people.

“The Pakistan Oppressed Nations’ Movement will take up this issue and evolve a joint strategy to launch protests against the arrests,” they announced.

They said that the workers and supporters of the opposition parties had blocked the Quetta-Karachi highway in Wadh, Khuzdar and Mastung in protest against the arrests.

The Information Secretary of the Jamhoori Watan Party, Senator Amanullah Kanrani, also condemned the arrests and described it as a criminal act.