Bail rejected: Ex-minister arrested for allegedly assaulting police

Arshad Abdullah was put behind bars along with 18 of his accomplices.

CHARSADDA: Former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) law minister Barrister Arshad Abdullah of the Awami National Party (ANP) was arrested on Wednesday along with 18 others from the premises of a court in Charsadda.

A case was filed against Abdullah and his accomplices on April 26 at Uthmanzai police station for allegedly assaulting police officials by pointing guns at them and preventing them from their duties by force. Consequently, police charged him under Sections 183, 189, 149, 145, 506 and 353 of the Pakistan Penal Code, following which the former minister managed to secure bail before arrest.

Abdullah had received bail from the court of Additional Sessions Judge Justice Shehnaz Hameed Khattak. On Wednesday, Abdullah along with 18 of his accomplices including five police officials serving his security guards appeared before the sessions judge, who rejected their bail.

The judge ordered the immediate arrest of all the culprits, after which Abdullah and his accomplices were jailed in city police station.

Following Abdullah’s arrest, ANP’s district general secretary Qasim Ali Khan Muhammadzai along with other local leaders held a press conference at the party’s district secretariat, alleging ANP leaders were being sidelined according to a ‘plan’. He said the elements involved would be dealt with strictly.

Muhammadzai claimed the district government had failed to provide security to ANP leaders and demanded Abdullah’s release.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2013.