Daily Times

A district and sessions court in Mardan on Friday rejected the police’s request for the physical remand of former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser and sent the PTI leader to jail on four-day judicial remand in a case pertaining to violent protests in the country on May 9.

Qaiser was initially arrested on Nov 3 at his Banigala residence on charges of causing losses to the national exchequer through procurement irregularities in the Gajju Khan Medical College. On Thursday, he was granted bail by an anti-corruption court in the case. But the PTI leader re-arrested from his Marghuz residence hours later in a case pertaining to ransacking of the Charsadda Toll Plaza on the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway on May 9 – the day violent protests broke out across the country following ex-premier Imran Khan’s arrest. Following Qaiser’s release from Swabi prison, a joint team of Swabi and Charsadda police had arrested him. Qaiser’s brother, Waheed Khan, had said that three cases were registered against his brother in connection with May 9 violence: one was in Swabi, another in Islamabad and the third in Charsadda.

On Friday, the PTI leader was presented before a district and session court in Mardan. During the hearing, Charsadda police submitted a request seeking Qaiser’s five-day physical remand. The court, however, rejected the request and sent the PTI leader to jail. It also directed police to present Qaiser on Nov 29 (Wednesday) along with the case record.

Following his arrest on Thursday, Qaiser had released a video message urging PTI supporters to continue their lawful struggle and aim for a two-thirds majority in the upcoming general election. “I tell my Pakistani brothers that you should not be afraid. We believe in the rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution,” Qaiser had said in the video posted on X, formerly Twitter.

“It’s election time, and they (the establishment) are trying to take us to the other side, but we will continue our struggle within the limits of law. “We have only one demand: Pakistan should be governed according to the Constitution and the law. There should be a level playing field for all political parties,” he had added. Referring to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, Qaiser had implied that the former’s appointment as prime minister had already been decided, but hoped that the public would defeat such a narrative and vote for the PTI.