Mansehra Police on Sunday arrested senior leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F) Mufti Kifayatullah from Islamabad for "chanda collection, holding corner meetings and inciting the public for taking part in Azadi March."
Kifayatullah was arrested from Islamabad's sector E-11 in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday by a team of Mansehra Police who took him to Mansehra and later sent him to Haripur Jail, sources told Business Recorder.
According to a notification issued by Deputy Commissioner Mansehra Captain Aurangzaib Haider Khan (retd), a copy of which is available with Business Recorder, the JUI-F leader has been detained for 30 days from the date of his arrest in the light of section 3 (1) of the West Pakistan Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO) 1960.
The notification says that the activities of Mufti Kifayatullah were "posing grave threat to public safety, which may create disturbance of public tranquility, danger to human life, health and safety."
The notification cited a letter received from district police officer Mansehra suggesting that Mufti Kifayatullah was found involved in "chanda collection, holding corner meetings and inciting the public for taking part in Azadi March."
The Section 3 (1) reads, "Power to arrest and detain suspected persons.- (1) Government, if satisfied that with a view to preventing any person from acting in any manner prejudicial to public safety or the maintenance of public order, it is necessary so to do, may, by an order in writing, direct the arrest and detention in such custody as may be prescribed under sub-section (7), of such person for such period as may, subject to the other provisions of this section, be specified in the order, and Government, if satisfied that for the aforesaid reasons it is necessary so to do, may, extend from time to time the period of such detention, (for a period not exceeding six months at a time.)
Meanwhile, Islamabad district administration on Sunday installed containers at the entry and exit points of Red Zone ahead of JUI-F's Azadi March on October 31. The decision has been taken to stop protestors from entering the Red Zone where top government offices, Supreme Court, Diplomatic Enclave and related installations are located.
Following successful negotiations between the government and opposition on Saturday, the JUI-F has agreed to hold its protest at a designated piece of land in sector H-9 of Islamabad but the city administration is taking preventive measures to respond to any untoward occurrence.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019