Mushtaq Ghani returns from UK

ABBOTTABAD: Former speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, obtained a bail before arrest (BBA) on Wednesday soon after returning to his hometown from the United Kingdom(UK).

The district and sessions judge of Abbottabad granted him the BBA after hearing arguments from his lawyers in a case registered at Abbottabad on May 9, last year. Mushtaq Ghani had gone to the UK after the May 9 violent incidents.

He was charged in First Information Report (FIR) 472, dated 9.5.2023 and registered at the Cantt Police Station in Abbottabad. Sources said the politician from Abbottabad landed at the airport in Peshawar on Wednesday morning after staying in Dubai for two days.

He had already obtained a transit bail from the Peshawar High Court till January 22. Mushtaq Ghani moved to Abbottabad where he rushed to a sessions court and applied for the BBA in the case.

His plea was entertained and was asked to furnish two sureties bonds worth Rs0.5 million each. The court sought the record of the case and directed the accused to join investigation forthwith and to attend the court on each day of hearing. The case hearing was adjourned to January 26.

It is worth mentioning here that Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani feared arrest in the said FIR but was wanted to the National Accountability Bureau and Anti-Corruption Department of KP as well. His nomination papers for his home constituency, PK-45, have already been accepted as an independent candidate and he has been allotted kettle as the election symbol.