MUZAFFARABAD, April 17: The activists of People’s Party Azad Kashmir (PPAJK) blocked traffic at several busy points in the AJK capital on Thursday by burning tyres and placing other obstacles to protest the arrest of their leader and former AJK minister Khwaja Farooq Ahmed by Ehtesab Bureau.

Mr Farooq, PPAJK secretary information and former electricity minister in Barrister Sultan led-government, was arrested on Monday night from his residence along with two government officials for his alleged involvement in “embezzlement in Jagran hydel power project.” He has been remanded by an Ehtesab Court to the bureau’s custody for a week.

Terming his arrest as an “act of vengeance,” the PPAJK has blamed Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan of being behind it due to Mr Farooq’s aggressive opposition to the government’s “malfunctioning, nepotism and corrupt practices.”

On Thursday, the PPAJK activists appeared on the busy roads of the capital in almost all localities where they burnt tyres, causing traffic blockades. They were chanting slogans against the government and the Ehtesab Bureau and in support of Mr Farooq and making victory signs.

At the CMH road, police tried to clear the road of the burning tyres, as the Federal Education Minister Zobaida Jalal and AJK President Sardar Anwar Khan were to pass through it to reach the AJK University’s old campus. The boy scouts association had arranged the investiture of the AJK president as chief scout of Azad Kashmir at the varsity auditorium in the old campus. Tariqabad bypass, the alternative route to the venue, was also blocked by the PP workers, in a similar fashion.

Fire fighters were called to extinguish the blaze due to which the authorities had to delay the departure of the President and the Federal minister for the old campus by two hours.