Man who attacked Junaid Jamshed arrested from Karachi

KARACHI: One of the men who attacked singer-turned-evangelist Junaid Jamshed at the Islamabad airport last month has been arrested from Karachi's PECHS neighbourhood, police said on Thursday.

Zainulabideen was arrested by a team of policemen who had arrived from Islamabad, SSP East Faisal Abdullah Chachar said.

Later in the day, Zainulabideen was presented in the court of judicial magistrate Karachi East, Kaneez Fatima, who sent the accused on a three-day transit remand into the custody of Islamabad police.

Zainulabideen will now be transferred to Islamabad, where a case has been registered against Junaid Jamshed’s attackers at the Airport Police Station.

A furious mob of unknown people attacked Jamshed at the Benazir International Airport in Islamabad on March 26, accusing him of blasphemy.

The former vocalist of the band Vital Signs received kicks and blows by a small group of men just as he was leaving the airport.

The group chanted slogans against Jamshed before beating him up. A security official came to his rescue and led him back to the safety of the arrival lounge at the airport.

A video of the incident that became viral on social media showed Jamshed asking the crowd to talk to him instead of resorting to violence.

Provoked by his fellows by chants of “Maaro, maaro! (beat him, beat him!)”, a man could be seen chasing Jamshed and kicking him before the former pop singer disappeared into the arrival lounge.