PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remained peaceful on Thursday following the deployment of the army to quell violent protests against the arrest of PTI chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan.

The police arrested hundreds of people in the province for damaging public property and life, and violating a ban on gatherings.

The law-enforcement agencies kept the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf activists away from the Red Zone in Peshawar.

The police said they were identifying participants of the May 9-10 violent protests with the help of surveillance camera videos before carrying out raids for their arrest.

Peshawar ATC remands 30 PTI workers in custody

In a statement, the central police office in the provincial capital said the police and Frontier Constabulary’s 16 platoons were deployed in Peshawar, Kohat, Mardan, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan districts, while the Pakistan Army had been called in aid of the civil administration.

It added that police registered 42 cases of violence and arrested 296 suspects in different parts of the province by Thursday evening.

The central police office said the police took 44 people into custody after their nomination in different cases, while 252 people were held under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order.

It claimed that all arrests were made in accordance with the law.

In the statement, the central police office insisted that the violence claimed seven lives in the province, including four in Peshawar district, two in Kohat and one in Malakand.

It added that the protesters injured 32 policemen, including senior officials, damaged 17 public properties and installations, including the Radio Pakistan Peshawar’s building, a military check post, CCTV cameras, a police post, the National Accountability Bureau and Election Commission of Pakistan offices, the premises of the Safe City Project in Peshawar, Mardan and Charsadda, toll plazas in Peshawar, Chakdara and Swat, and government vehicles.

Meanwhile, an anti-terrorism court in Peshawar remanded 30 people in custody for five days after the police produced them on the charge of attacking Radio Pakistan and ECP offices.

Also in the day, the administration of Malakand district prepared a list of the people, who allegedly set fire to the Swat Motorway interchange.

Officials of the levies told Dawn that the damage caused by protesters to public property in the district totaled around Rs60.5 million.

They said the arrest of 50 “miscreants” was planned.

Deputy commissioner of Malakand Shahab Khan said ther administration had formed special teams to arrest violent protesters.

However, no arrest was made until night. The Lower Dir police took PTI leader and former MNA Sahibzada Sibghatullah in Chakdara area and shifted him to Swat.

They also claimed to have arrested 27 PTI workers in Balambat and 11 in Chakdara under Section 16 of the Maintenance of Public Order.

The police said many activists and leaders of the opposition party left the area to prevent arrest. They said search for those PTI activists was under way.

No protest was reported anywhere in the district that day. All main and link roads stayed open.

Meanwhile, the Peshawar High Court’s Mingora Bench on Thursday granted interim bail to PTI Malakand division president Fazal Hakim Khan after the district magistrate ordered his arrest under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order over street protests against the arrest of party chief Imran Khan in Islamabad.

Mr Khan got the bail until May 24 as the court directed him to “keep a good conduct and not to indulge in any act prejudicial to the public safety and not disturb the peaceful atmosphere in future, in any manner.”

In the evening, the PTI workers celebrated the Supreme Court’s orders for the release of the PTI chairman. They showed up at Nishat Chowk in Mingora in large numbers and distributed sweets among them.

Also in the day, the police arrested 66 people over violence in Swabi district.

They also registered FIRs against former National Assembly speaker and PTI leader Asad Qaiser, former adviser to the chief minister Abdul Karim and former members of the provincial assembly Rangaiz Khan and Aqibullah Khan, and others over violent rallies.

A total of 300 unidentified PTI workers were also booked under sections 341, 342, 379,427, 436, 148 and 149 of the PPC for burning old tyres on the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway and blocking it to traffic for over eight hours on Tuesday. They’re led by Mr Qaiser.

In Mansehra district, the police arrested over two dozen PTI leaders and workers for challenging the writ of the government.

In a news release, the district police said they booked 55 PTI activists for blocking the Karakoram Highway and arrested 25 of them.

They added that raids were being carried out to arrest others.

The Dera Ismail Khan police arrested former federal minister Sanaullah alias Kaka Shah, PTI leader Sardar Ali Amin Khan Gandapur, trader leader and another man for blocking the Qureshi Morr and DI Khan-Multan Road and shouting slogans against the government and state institutions.

The police arrested PTI workers and shifted them to the Haripur Central Prison under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order.

A police official told Dawn that DPO Abdul Rauf Babar Qaisrani ordered DSP (City Circle) Hafiz Mohammad Adnan to arrest the people involved in violent protests.

He said over 300 workers and leaders of the opposition party were booked for violating Section 144, which banned gatherings in the district.

The Kohat police arrested 20 PTI activists and former law minister Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi on Thursday under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order and sent them to the main Bannu prison. They also registered cases against 250 party activists under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Fazal Naeem, a public relations officer of the district police office, said cases had been registered against those who injured two policemen during an attack on the Jarma police station.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2023