ATC approves three-day physical remand of HDT leader Hidayat Ur Rehman

• ATC granted four-day remand on January 14 as well. 
• JI leader was arrested outside local Gwadar court on Jan 13.
  
• HDT leader was accused of inciting violence and provocation. 

QUETTA: An Anti-Terrorism court in Quetta, on Monday, granted three-day remand of Gwadar Haq Do Tehreek leader Molana Hidayat Ur Rehman on the crime branch's request.

Rehman, a leader of the Jamat-e-Islami, was presented before ATC judge Saadat Bazai along with his colleagues. The crime branch requested to extend his remand, which was granted.

The HDT leader was arrested by Gwadar police outside a local court, over the killing of a policeman amid HDT protests.

A heavy police contingent was present outside the local court, which arrested three others along with Rehman — days after the HDT leader said he would reach Gwadar to surrender before the law enforcers.

The HDT leader was nominated in the first information report (FIR) of the death of a police constable — Yasir Saeed — who was killed by unknown assailants on November 27 during a protest in Gwadar.

The police, in a statement, said a bullet hit the constable in the neck and he died on the spot. Following this, Balochistan Home Minister Ziaullah Langove ordered the police to register a case against the HDT leader.

The FIR, in which Rehman and others were nominated, alleged that the HDT leader provoked and incited people at the protest to pelt stones at government vehicles, following which the people threw stones and shattered the windowpanes of a police officer’s car.

Gwadar protests

The protest, in which the unfortunate incidents took place, was part of the HDT's movement that had a wide range of demands and had been going on for the last two months.

The Haq Do Tehreek protesters in Gwadar have been demanding a reduction in the number of check posts, easier border trade and a total end to deep-sea fish trawling in the sea next to Gwadar.

In response, the Balochistan Bar Council condemned the arrested and said the HDT leader had to appear before the court to seek interim bail in the case.

"But instead, the Gwadar police forcefully arrested Maulana Hidayat Ur Rehman from the court's premises," the bar council said.