May 9 protest case: Asad Qaiser sent on 14-day judicial remand

MARDAN/CHARSADDA: District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Zaib has sent former speaker of the National Assembly, Asad Qaiser, on a 14-day judicial remand at the Central Jail Mardan in connection with the May 9 protests.

Sources said that a joint team of Swabi and Charsadda police arrested Asad Qaiser in Swabi as he had been wanted by the police in the May 9 violent protests.

On Friday, the police presented Asad Qaiser before the district and sessions judge, who rejected the police’s request for the physical remand of the former National Assembly speaker and instead sent him to jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

Qaiser was initially arrested on November 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.

However, he was re-arrested in Swabi in connection with the ransacking of the Charsadda Toll Plaza on the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway on May 9.

Meanwhile, PTI leader Asad Qaiser said that the circumstances under which the next general elections were going to take place could not be termed level-playing field. He was talking to reporters at the District Headquarters Hospital in Charsadda, where he arrived for a check-up before his appearance an anti-terrorism court.

He said that if Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Nawaz Sharif was being made the prime minister then a notification should be issued like the one circulated for the appointment of caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar as there was no need for holding the elections. He said that the ones, who called the PTI government as selected after the 2018 general elections, were also going to be selected in the next polls.

Qaiser said that the elections would lose its credibility if it was held under the prevailing circumstances. He alleged that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was behind the injustice being meted out to the PTI and its leaders.

To a question, he said that the PTI’s legal team was looking into the intra-party elections issue, which was raised by the Election Commission of Pakistan.