MNAs among 30 arrested for pro-Pashteen protest in Islamabad

Mohsin Dawar, Ali Wazir and others booked by Kohstan police

ISLAMABAD: Police arrested and booked over 30 people including MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir for staging a protest outside the National Press Club against the arrest of Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leader Manzoor Pashteen.

Besides PTM activists, the police also rounded up office-bearers of the Awami Workers’ Party (AWP) including its vice president Ismat Raza Shahjahan and Punjab president Ammar Rashid.

After being detained for four hours, they were finally transferred to the Kohstan police station, where a case was registered against them.

The police high-ups held a meeting to discuss the matter but the circle and zonal officers refused to speak to the media.

PTM chief Manzoor Pashteen arrested, sent to jail on 14-day judicial remand

Eventually, DIG Operations Waqaruddin Syed confirmed to The Express Tribune that a case had been registered against the protesters by Kohstan police.

Earlier in the day, a transit bail request for Pashteen, who was arrested and subsequently sent to jail on 14-day remand by a judicial magistrate on Monday, was rejected by a sessions court in Peshawar.

The session judge accepted the police's request to shift the PTM chief to Dera Ismail Khan, where an FIR has been registered against him.

Police arrested Pashteen from Peshawar’s Shaheen Town in the wee hours of Monday on the basis of an FIR registered against him on Jan 18 in DI Khan on a slew of charges.

Police official Shiraz Khan said Pashteen was wanted by the DI Khan police on charges, including sedition, hate speech, incitement against the state, and criminal conspiracy.

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