Police get Ghazain’s remand in new case

Ex-minister says some people want to keep him behind bars

QUETTA: A special anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday remanded former provincial minister Nawabzada Ghazain Marri in police custody for seven days to investigate his alleged support to Baloch separatists.

Marri was presented before the ATC in connection with a new criminal case lodged against him on charges of supporting the separatists. After arguments from both sides, the court granted his physical remand to the Industrial Area police.

Talking to the media after the hearing, Marri said some people wanted to keep him behind bars and were coming up with new cases every day, “but we are fighting the cases while exercising our legal rights”.

“I can’t say that the whole provincial government is involved, but there are two or three people keeping me behind bars,” he said.

Marri said that during the Pervez Musharraf regime there was a dictator at the national level but now some people were imitating him and acting as dictators in Balochistan.



When asked if the government had approached him, he said, “I have not been approached by any political leader or invited to join mainstream politics.”

About his arrival in the country after ending his self-imposed exile, the former home minister said, “I have returned of my own free will but they wanted me to come through them. That’s what has been annoying them more.”

“When I was returning home, they told me to lay down arms, but I didn’t carry any weapons,” he sarcastically remarked. “In Dubai I couldn’t even walk with a small knife and I told them that they could give me weapons when I landed at the airport so that I could lay them down.”

About his political plan, he said, “I have been welcomed by all political parties on returning to my homeland but no one has invited me to join a party, nor do I intend to do so.”