JUI-F’s Mufti Kifayatullah arrested

MANSEHRA: The police arrested the Jamiat Ulema-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Mufti Kifayatullah under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) from his seminary in the Tarangri area here on Tuesday.

The police personnel of Saddar and City police stations raided the seminary and arrested the former JUI-F MPA and shifted him to an undisclosed location.

The federal cabinet at a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair had decided to arrest Mufti Kifayatullah for his ‘anti-state’ remarks earlier this year. However, he had gone underground to escape the arrest. The police had arrested his two sons and three other family members at the time but Mufti Kifayatullah remained elusive during that period. Mufti Kifayatullah had recently made a public appearance that apparently prompted the authorities to arrest him, said a source.

Meanwhile, the JUI-F activists staged protest on the Abbottabad Road in Mansehra against the arrest of the former lawmaker and demanded his release.

The protesters marched on the road raising slogans in support of Mufti Kifayatullah and against the government. “A heavy contingent of police raided the seminary in Tarangri area and arrested the JUI-F leader,” Qazi Habibur Rehman, the elder brother of Mufti Kifayatullah told reporters. He said that his family and the JUI-F members were still unaware about the sections of laws under which his younger brother was arrested. “We have yet to approach the police to receive an FIR lodged against Mufti Kifayatullah,” he added.

The JUI-F leader was also arrested last year for leading the funeral prayers of his party’s district general secretary who died of Covid-19.