PTI camp burning case: Pre-arrest interim bail granted to PPP leader

PESHAWAR: A court on Friday approved the pre-arrest interim bail plea of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Central Secretary General, Humayun Khan.

A case was registered against him for staging a protest at the Assembly Chowk and allegedly setting fire to a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) camp.Additional District and Sessions Judge Peshawar, Ismatullah Wazir, heard the bail plea.

The petitioner was represented in court by advocates Gohar Rehman Khattak, Lajbar Khan, Owais, and Shakeel Ahmad Gilani during the hearing.The lawyers informed the court that their client was a senior politician and the central secretary general of the PPP, who was leading a peaceful protest on Monday.

However, they added, during the demonstration, the police, allegedly acting on the instructions of the provincial government, resorted to a baton charge against the party workers.They argued that peaceful protest was a constitutional right of every citizen, but in an attempt to sabotage the protest, the police resorted to unjustified use of force.

The lawyers said several workers and party members were affected by tear gas and had to be hospitalized.Later, they learned that a case had been registered against Humayun Khan at the Sharqi [East ] Police Station in Cantt. The counsel emphasized that the petitioner was a respectable citizen and a political leader, and therefore requested the court to approve his pre-arrest bail.

The court summoned the relevant police record by June 14 after approving the interim pre-arrest bail.It is worth mentioning that other PPP leaders, including Syed Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha, Ziaullah Afridi, and Shah Zulqarnain, have already obtained interim pre-arrest bail in the same case.