ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court of Pakistan Thursday granted bail to chief of the Haq Do Tehreek (HDT) Maulana Hidayatur Rehman, and ordered his release against two surety bonds of Rs0.3 million.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, and comprising Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar conducted hearing of the bail petition of Maulana Hidayat.
During the hearing, Advocate Kamran Murtaza, representing the HDT chief argued that his client was arrested from court premises. He added that his client has been incarcerated since December 2022. At this, Justice Tariq inquired; “Why didn’t you challenge the arrest from the court premises.” Murtaza replied that at the time of Rehman’s arrest, such actions had not been declared illegal by the apex court adding that the development happened following the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.
Balochistan Advocate General argued that Rehman should not be granted bail until the main accused, Majid Johar, is sent on judicial remand. Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar then questioned whether “Rehman is accused of aiding and abetting the murder of a police officer?”
The counsel replied that the facts will be determined during the trial, adding that his client’s movement was related to the provision of water for the people of Gwadar. He was arrested from Gwadar on January 13 on charges of murder. Later in January, he was handed over to the crime branch police on a three-day physical remand by the anti-terrorism court.
Rehman who is also Balochistan general secretary of Jaamat-i-Islami (JI) was arrested in Gwadar on Jan 13 over charges stemming from the killing of a policeman by unidentified assailants on Dec 27, 2022, during the protests held by HDT supporters in December.
On December 22 last year, a police constable was killed in Gwadar as clashes between the HDT activists who had been protesting in the city for nearly two months with various demands including an end to illegal trawling in Gwadar’s water, setting up of a high number of security checkpoints and opening up of trade on the Pak-Iran border.
According to police spokesperson Aslam Khan, constable Yasir was shot in the neck after violence erupted during the protest at Hashmi Chowk. “He died on the spot.” Subsequently, the police registered a first information report (FIR) against Hidayatur Rehman on charges of murder, attempt to murder, provoking the people for violence and other charges.
The FIR was registered on Dec 30, 2022 and names three other people along with Rehman as responsible for the alleged charges. It claimed that Rehman had provoked and incited the people sitting there (at the protest site) to pelt stones at government vehicles, which allegedly resulted in the shattering of car windows of a police officer along with other losses.
The movement advocating for the rights of the people of Gwadar was launched in November 2021, with Maulana Rehman at the forefront.