SWABI: Awami National Party district president Ameer Rehman, who contested election from PK-47, Swabi-V, and was booked for opening fire on Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf workers, has secured bail before arrest, party workers said on Monday.

When contacted, Mr Rehman told Dawn that he had been granted bail before arrest by a local court in the murder case registered against him in Kalu Khan police station.

Mr Rehman and his gunman, Jan Mohammad, were booked in the alleged murder case when the ANP workers clashed with PTI workers on the polling day outside Binzara polling station in Karnal Sher Kili.

As a result, one person was killed and three were injured.

Mukhtiar Khan, the injured father of the killed Shahzeb Khan, had lodged an FIR, alleging that Mr Rehman and his gunman had opened fire on them, and as result his son was killed on the spot. The ANP leader’s gunman has also managed to get bail before arrest.

The next hearing of the case is fixed for Tuesday (today), and in case his bail before arrest is not confirmed Mr Rehman would be arrested.

Insiders in both PTI and ANP said the political rivalry between Mr Rehman and Shahram Khan Tarakai, former provincial health minister and MPA-elect of PTI, which dates back to 2005, would only linger on.

They said rivalry between the two families reached its peak after the latest killing incident because the deceased Shahzeb and his injured father were staunch supporters of Shahram Tarakai.

They said Mr Shahram was standing by Mukhtiar because he had lost a young son who completed his BS engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2018