Defunct SSP chief Maulana Ludhianvi detained by Islamabad police

Police registered an FIR against him but were unable to arrest him despite numerous attempts.

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad City Police managed to detain Maulana Ahmed Ludhianvi, chief of the banned outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), under section 144 of the Pakistan penal code on Tuesday.

Police officials said that a First information Report (FIR) had been registered against Ludhianvi in I-9 police station, however Police could not formally arrest him.

Maulana Ludhianvi is the chief of banned outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba, renamed to the Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ) entered Islamabad on Tuesday. Police first intercepted him on ninth avenue and tried to arrest him for an outstanding case registered against him at the Margalla Police station on February 5, under section 11-G of Anti Terrorism (Act).

However, Maulana Ludhianvi’s supporters and his security detail resisted police attempts to arrest him, and held them off for more than two hours. Meanwhile, Ludhianvi said that he will surrender before the police, if senior leaders of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council Pakistan (DPC) asked him to do so.

When DPC leaders requested him, Ludhianvi agreed to surrender himself before the police at the I-9 police station. However, as the ASWJ leader entered the station for negotiations, hundreds of his supporters gathered outside.

On February, 21 Islamabad administration banned him from participating in a DPC rally which was later held in Aabpara Market.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Amir Ali Ahmed confirmed that an FIR had been lodged against him on February 5, when he participated in a Conference in G-9, Karachi Company.