Daily Times

A local court in Dera Ismail Khan on Saturday granted bail to Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) chief Manzoor Pashteen in two cases of sedition while his bail applications in two other cases are pending before the court and set to be heard on Monday (tomorrow), according to Pashteen’s lawyer Farhat Afridi.

The additional sessions court in DI Khan had reserved the verdict on Friday after hearing arguments from both defence and prosecution. “The court announced the reserved verdict and ordered the release of Manzoor Pashteen on bail in two cases,” PTM leader and MNA Mohsin Dawar said, adding that after Pashteen’s arrest it had emerged that a total of four first information reports (FIRs) were registered against him. He hoped that the court will also grant bail in the other two cases.

Pashteen was arrested on Jan 27 from Peshawar’s Shaheen Town and sent to Peshawar Central Jail on a 14-day judicial remand by a magistrate. A day after his arrest, a Peshawar court had rejected the PTM leader’s bail plea and ordered his transfer to Dera Ismail Khan, where he is currently imprisoned.

Lawyer Afridi said that the two FIRs for which bail was granted were registered at Dera Ismail Khan’s City Police Station under Sections 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups), 120-B (punishment of criminal conspiracy), 124 (sedition), and 123-A (condemning the creation of the country and advocating the abolition of its sovereignty) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

According to one FIR registered on Jan 18, Pashteen and other PTM leaders had attended a gathering that day in Dera Ismail Khan where the PTM chief had allegedly said that the 1973 Constitution violated basic human rights. The FIR added that Pashteen also made derogatory remarks about the state.