Charged for riots: Trade union leader granted bail

A magistrate on duty released the accused on surety bonds worth Rs80,000, in addition to two reliable sureties.

PESHAWAR:

Trade union leader Khalid Ayub and his brother Tariq Ayub, who were arrested on Thursday for inciting violent protests, were released on bail on Sunday.

Police had jailed them under sections 353, 152, 120B, 186, 472, 148 and 149. A magistrate on duty (MOD) released the accused on surety bonds worth Rs80,000, in addition to two reliable sureties.

The lawyer of the Ayub brothers, Advocate Shahab Khattak, told the magistrate that his clients had been kept in illegal detention for two days without the registration of FIRs. He said their detention would cause unrest among traders.

He informed the court that his client Khalid is a social figure struggling for human rights.  “My client can be bailed for all charges,” he told The Express Tribune.

Khalid told The Express Tribune that he was arrested from Police Colony and was kept in detention for two days.

Khalid is the head of an organisation called Karawan, which distributed pamphlets in Peshawar, calling people to besiege the US Consulate, said a police official of the Nasir Bagh police station. “The members of Karawan drove through villages and asked people to protest violently,” he told The Express Tribune.

The official further said that they had four vans with loudspeakers as they drove through Peshawar city, while distributing pamphlets.  They incited people to gather near Shamma Square outside the American consulate. The traders had given a deadline for the release of Khalid Ayub.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2012.