Two more PTM activists released from prison

PESHAWAR: Two more Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) activists were released from prison after the Peshawar High Court (PHC) approved their bail applications.

Dr Abdul Hai and Ismail Mehsud were released from Haripur Central Prison. Member National Assembly (MNA) Mohsin Dawar and Member Provincial Assembly Mir Kalam Wazir received the PTM activists outside the Haripur prison. Earlier, Alamzeb Mehsud was released from a jail in Karachi. He was received by PTM chief Manzoor Pashteen at the Islamabad airport. Also, MNAs Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar were released from Haripur Central Prison after the PHC granted them bail in the Khar Kamar attack case. Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir were charged in the first information report on May 26 after the Khar Kamar checkpost incident in North Waziristan.

Thirteen persons were killed and several others had sustained injuries in the firing incident at the Khar Kamar checkpost in the Boya area. Ali Wazir was taken into custody on the day of the attack, while Mohsin Dawar had surrendered to the security forces a few days later.

They were also charged on June 7 for an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in North Waziristan that had claimed lives of four security personnel.

Both Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar were in the custody of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) at the time of the IED blast. Mir Kalam Wazir told The News that 18 PTM activists were still being held in different jails across the country.

He hoped these activists including Arif Wazir, Qazi Tahir, Mulla Behram, Hanif Pashteen, Sheraz Mohmand, Shafi Tareen, Jamshed Wazir, Bilal Pashteen, Qasim Achakzai, Dost Mohammad, Sher Nawaz, Tahir Noorzai and Mustafa Pashteen would soon be released.