Khosa, MPA Farhat, 60 other PTI activists booked

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Sardar Latif Khosa, Hafiz Farhat Abbas and 60 others were booked by North Cantonment and Old Anarkali police stations for staging protest demonstrations on Sunday.

A large number of PTI activists tried to take to the streets on Sunday to register a protest on the party leaders’ call. Various party leaders also joined the demonstrators. However, police conducted a strict crackdown before they could make any visible appearance.

Sardar Latif Khosa was arrested near his residence, Salman Akram Raja from Ichhra Bazaar and Hafiz Farhat Abbas from GPO Chowk. The FIR at Old Anarkali Police Station was registered under Section 7 ATA [Anti-Terrorism Act], along with other sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

According to the police, Hafiz Farhat Abbas and five unidentified suspects resorted to firing at GPO Chowk after they were intercepted by the police to prevent them from creating law and order situation and blocking road.

They also thrashed policemen, alleged the FIR. In the case, 38 persons were nominated as accused. Police alleged that they also recovered a weapon used for firing.

The FIR against Latif Khosa was registered in North Cantonment Police Station, which said that he, along with 15-20 unidentified persons, gathered near Sadar Roundabout, blocked road and chanted slogans.

Meanwhile, a district and sessions court in Islamabad granted interim bail to PTI leaders in Section 144 violation case, on Monday.

Sher Afzal Marwat, Ali Bukhari, Aamir Mughal, Shoaib Shaheen and Chaudhry Ilyas Mehrban were booked at Kohsar Police Station for violating Section 144 during the party’s rally against alleged election rigging on Sunday.

Judge Tahir Abbas Supra took up the interim bail plea of the suspects named in the case by the police. The PTI leaders’ lawyers stated that their clients were named in the case for taking out a peaceful rally.

They charged the government with political victimisation and pleaded for bail. The court, while granting bail to the PTI leaders against a surety bond of Rs5,000 each, ordered them to appear before the court and sought a response from the police by March 19.