MANSEHRA: Peshawar High Court’s Abbottabad Circuit Bench has stopped the Mansehra police from arresting Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl leader Mufti Kifayatullah, trader leader Haroonur Rasheed and around 110 other people, who were booked for protesting the electrocution of a nanbai during a crackdown on polythene bags last month.

“The court not only barred the police from arresting over 112 peaceful protesters but also ordered the subordinate judiciary to suspend all proceedings against them,” Waqarul Mulk, counsel for the petitioners, told reporters here on Wednesday.

Accompanied by some petitioners, Mr Mulk said the bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Khan and Justice Subhan admitted the petition seeking orders to quash the FIR lodged against his clients under Section 324 of PPC.

He insisted that the petitioners peacefully protested the electrocution of nanbai Mohammad Asif during the administration’s crackdown on polythene bags in Mansehra bazaars on Sept 6, 2022.

The lawyer said the police acted against protesters with a mala fide intention and that the charges levelled against them under the Pakistan Penal Code.

He said his clients had the legal right to stage demonstrate peacefully.

BRIDGE COLLAPSES: A Bailey bridge on the Kunhar River collapsed on Wednesday suspending traffic between Balakot and dozens of villages and localities here.

Chairman of the local village council Tariq Khan told reporters that the Shohal Mazullah bridge made of iron rods and wooden planks collapsed as a mini-truck was passing over it.

He said it was the only source of crossing the Kunhar River from the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road to dozens of Balakot villages.

“We recently got this bridge repaired on a self-help basis,” he said.

The council chairman demanded the immediate construction of a concrete bridge on the river for the restoration of vehicular traffic.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2022