PTI MPA freed after ATC grants him bail in two cases

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) granted on Wednesday post-arrest bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Arslan Taj Ghumman in two cases pertaining to rioting, sedition and terrorism charges.

The lawmaker was arrested by the Site-A police on the night of March 12 over alleged involvement in an attack on the Keamari deputy commissioner’s office over a delay in the announcement of the local government results of some union committees on January 18. He, along with MPA Raja Azhar, was also booked by the Landhi police for allegedly delivering speeches against state institutions and sedition.

After hearing arguments from both the sides, the ATC-XV judge granted post-arrest bail to Ghumman subject to furnishing Rs50,000 in each case. He directed the jail authorities to release him forthwith if his custody was not required in any other case.

Defence lawyer Zahoor Mahsud confirmed to The News that the lawmaker had been released from the prison after submission of the surety.Mahsud and other PTI lawyers who represented Ghumman contended before the court that the cases were registered against the lawmaker with mala fide intentions just to subject him to political vengeance. Rejecting the allegations levelled against him, they pleaded with the judge to order his release on bail.

PTI senior leader Ali Haider Zaidi, MNA Attaullah Khan, and MPAs Bilal Ghaffar, Saeed Afridi and Shabbir Qureshi were also booked in the case lodged at the Site-A police station.The cases were lodged under the sections 124-A (sedition), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups, etc.), 505 (statements conducting to public mischief), 506 (criminal intimidation), 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 324 (attempted murder), 506-B (punishment for criminal intimidation), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 380 (theft in dwelling house, etc.), and 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with the Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.