Academician arrested in Pakistan for protest

LAHORE: An academician in Pakistan was arrested Saturday after police raided his house for participating in a anti-state protest following the death of a ethnic Pashtun leader earlier this month, police said.

Ammar Ali Jan, associated with Lahore-situated Forman Christian college, was arrested from his residence and taken to the Gulberg police station. He was later released on bail. Police arrested lecturer Dr Ammar Ali Jan of Forman Christian (FC) College from his residence Saturday morning in connection with an FIR registered against him for taking part in a protest in Lahore’s Liberty Chowk this week in which anti-state slogans were chanted, Muhammad Hammad, Lahore police spokesman, said.

Jan was part of the protest that was held against the death of Arman Loni from the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), a social campaign for Pashtun human rights based in the Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and Balochistan.

Loni died on February 2 after baton charge by the police to disperse protesters of PTM while holding a peaceful protest against the terrorist attacks on security forces in Loralai in country’s Balochistan province.

In the FIR, Jan has been accused of leading a group of 100-150 people which was blocking the roads. “The gathering was blocking roads and Jan along with some others were chanting slogans against state institutions and intelligence agencies,” the paper reported, quoting the FIR.