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GWADAR: Four days after proclaiming his intention to travel to Gwadar to surrender, Haq Do Tehreek (HDT) leader Maulana Hidayatur Rehman was arrested on Friday after appearing in a local court on allegations of murdering a police officer.
A large police presence was gathered outside the local court to arrest three individuals, including the HDT leader.
The police had filed an FIR against Rehman and other movement leaders, including former caretaker province minister Mir Naveed Kalmati, for causing damage to public and private property. However, Rehman and Mir Naveed Kalmati adamantly disputed the claims.
The arrest has also drawn harsh criticism from the legal community for holding Rehman as a prisoner within the court’s grounds. “Police breached the integrity of the court,” said Munir Ahmed Kakar, a senior legal leader.
Mr Kakar reported that the Balochistan Bar Council (BBC) has declared a court boycott in protest over the arrest of the HDT leader from the court premises on Saturday (today).
As a protest, our attorneys would not attend in court, he said.
Meanwhile, Rehman was transferred to Gwadar police station amid heavy security, as his followers sang anti-district and anti-provincial government chants, accusing them of employing force against nonviolent political workers.
For more than two months, the HDT has been demonstrating against the provincial administration. The HDT has been calling for an end to illicit fishing and trawling, as well as needless checkpoints.
Police have already relocated 13 HDT commanders to Quetta. Hussain Wadela and 12 other HDT leaders had previously been detained for 10 days by the Quetta Crime Branch.
The provincial administration issued no immediate statement in response to the arrest of Maulana Hidayatur Rehman.
