Kohlu blast case: Ghazain remanded in Levies custody

Baloch leader also wanted over murder of BHC Judge Nawaz Marri in 2000

QUETTA: Quetta sessions court judge Rashid Mehmood on Saturday remanded Nawabzada Ghazain Marri in Levies force custody for five days in connection with the Kohlu blast case lodged against him in 2004.

The judge also ordered the release of seven others detained along with him.

Ghazain, son of late Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, had returned to Quetta from Dubai on Friday after ending his 18-year-long self-exile. As soon as his flight landed, he was arrested by law enforcement agencies from the airport as he is a suspect in the murder of Balochistan High Court (BHC) Judge Nawaz Marri in addition to being an alleged facilitator of the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).



Judge Rashid Mehmood heard Ghazain’s case and remanded him in the Levies custody.

“Levies force submitted the First Information Report (5) 2004 before the honourable court and [also] an application to obtain remand of my client Nawabzada Ghazain Marri,” advocate Arbab Tahir told media-persons outside the court.

Acting on the application, the sessions court handed Ghazain over to the Levies force on a five-day remand and ordered pursuing investigation against him in Quetta, instead of Kohlu.

According to sources, a landmine blast in Kohlu's Mavand tehsil in June 2004 had killed civilians. The BLA had claimed responsibility for the attack.



“We had filed an application against Ghazain’s illegal detention, but our plea was disposed of by the court following Kohlu blast charges that were filed against my client in 2004,” Tahir, the counsel for Ghazain, added.

Evidently, Tahir’s argument that the Kohlu blast FIR was lodged in 2004 while Ghazain had left the country in 2000 and had nothing to do with the blast was overruled.

Strict security measures were adopted outside and inside the premises of the sessions court as a large number of people from the Marri tribe had gathered outside for the hearing.

It is pertinent to mention that Justice Nawaz Marri, senior judge of BHC, was killed in an attack on January 7, 2000, in the Zarghoon road area of Quetta. Ghazain, his brother Hyrbayar Marri and others were nominated in the murder case.