Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Asad Qaiser released from jail
Dec 20, 2023
Islamabad [Pakistan], December 21 : Pakistan's former National Assembly (NA) speaker and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Qaiser was released from jail on Wednesday following the withdrawal of his detention order under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO), Dawn newspaper reported.
Dawn is a Pakistani English-language newspaper.
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) had directed Swabi Deputy Commissioner (DC) Tariqullah a day ago to withdraw his detention orders for Qaiser and warned that non-compliance would lead to action.
The DC's release order, a copy of which is available with Dawn was issued today on the condition that Qaiser would not disturb the peace, instigate the public against the government, raise slogans against state institutions, abide by the home department's standard operating procedures and that he would produce bail bond worth Pakistani rupee PKR 100,000 with two sureties each, along with an affidavit that Qaiser would not disturb the district's peace and tranquillity.
Qaiser was initially arrested on November 3 at his Banigala residence on charges of causing losses to the national exchequer through procurement irregularities in the Gajju Khan Medical College.
He was granted bail by an anti-corruption court in the case on November 23. But the PTI leader was re-arrested from his Marghuz residence hours later in a case on ransacking of the Charsadda Toll Plaza on the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway on May 9 -- the day violent protests broke out across the country following ex-premier Imran Khan's arrest.
Following Qaiser's release from Swabi prison, a joint team of Swabi and Charsadda police had arrested him. Qaiser's brother, Waheed Khan, had told Dawn that three cases were registered against his brother in connection with the May 9 violence: one was in Swabi, another in Islamabad and the third in Charsadda.
He was re-arrested on December 2 by the police outside the Mardan prison soon after his release in cases related to the May 9 riots. Qaiser was detained yet again by the police under the MPO Ordinance on Dec 9 after securing bail in a case about the May 9 protests.
DC Tariqullah had ordered 30 days of detention for the former NA speaker on December 8 under Section 3 of the MPO Ordinance. The DC had ordered the district police to arrest Qaiser and shift him to Mardan Central Prison for 30 days.
Until now, the PTI leader has been arrested five times, Dawn reported.
