QUETTA: A sessions court in Kohlu on Tuesday granted an interim bail to Balochistan’s former home minister Nawabzada Gazain Marri in a kidnapping case filed against him by his elder brother Nawab Jangez Khan Marri.

Gazain Marri appeared before the judge along with two other persons, Mir Naimat and Abdul Karim, who were also nominated in the FIR lodged at a police station in Kohlu.

Jangez and Gazain are sons of nationalist Baloch leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri.

The bail application was filed by Advocate Attaullah Marri. The court, while granting the bail to the accused, ordered Gazain Marri to deposit a surety bond of Rs100,000.

According to the FIR, Jangez Marri complained that Gazain Marri and his five accomplices had kidnapped his driver along with the vehicle on Oct 6, and taken away 29 camels from the Kahn area of Kohlu district on Oct 8.

He said the driver was tortured and released after three days. He demanded that the stolen camels and the vehicle be recovered and legal action taken against the accused. After getting the interim bail, Gazain Marri told the media that the case was lodged against him on baseless allegations. “It is a conspiracy to hinder the resettlement of Marri tribesmen and keep them backward,” he said.

Gazain Marri, who was home minister in the coalition government of Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, returned to Quetta in 2017 after ending self-exile.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2022