PESHAWAR/DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A Peshawar court on Saturday remanded former deputy speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and PTI leader Mahmood Jan in custody for a day in a murder case.

Judicial magistrate Mohammad Tayyab granted Mr Jan’s physical remand to the police.

The former PA speaker was arrested by the Dera Ismail Khan police after his plea for pre-arrest bail was rejected by a local court over his nomination in a case of murder and murder attempt in Peshawar.

He was handed over to officials of the provincial capital’s Regi police station, who produced him before a local court for remand.

Mr Jan was suspected of involvement in the murder over a property dispute, which claimed three lives.

He was held in DI Khan, shifted to Peshawar

His pre-arrest bail petition along with that of the co-accused was pending hearing when the Peshawar High Court ordered the shifting of their pleas to the Dera Ismail Khan’s sessions court for decision over security reasons.

Mr Jan denied involvement in the murder and murder attempt and filed a petition with the Peshawar High Court claiming that his rivals with the support of a top real estate developer are trying to grab his ancestral property in Kafoor Dehri area of Peshawar.

He also accused rivals of attacking him, damaging his properties and torching standing wheat crops in his fields.

KILLED: Robbers killed a man in his Daraban Road shop in the limits of the cantonment police station here.

Ameer Jan Marwat of Lakki Marwat told police that his 52-year-old brother, Diljan Marwat, was killed by two armed robbers for put up resistance.

He said his brother died on the spot, while the robbers fled with Rs30,000 cash from the shop.

Meanwhile, agriculture minister Abdul Haleem Khan has said the government is paying special attention to the development of the agriculture sector in the province, especially tribal districts.

He told reporters at his residence here that the development of the agriculture sector was being ensured through the introduction of modern farming techniques and provision of modern equipment and machinery to the growers.

The minister said the development of the agriculture sector would help fight terrorism.

“Steps are being taken to increase trout population in the Indus river,” he said.

Mr Khan said authorities were striving to eliminate illegal fishing in the river.

He said the fisheries department would recruit watchers to address their shortage.

The minister said the province was on the brink of defaulting on payments due to the poor policies and corruption of the last PTI government.

He said he was playing his due role for the development of Dera Ismail Khan.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2023