The Supreme Court on Thursday granted bail to Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman – the chief of Gwadar's Haq Do Tehreek, after a passage of more than three months.
Rehman made headlines last year for spearheading a series of protests in the port city against the illegal trawling in the waters, as well as a significant number of security check-posts, and no trade on Pak-Iran border.
The campaign, which calls for giving due fundamental rights to the people of Gwadar, was first launched in Nov 2021, with
Rehman leading it.
On Jan 13, Rehman – also the general secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami's Balochistan chapter – was taken into custody on charges related to the death of a police personnel by unidentified attackers in December last year, as his party held protests in the city.
The arrest spurred protests in various parts of Gwadar, with warning from his supporters of more protest if he wasn't released.
On Dec 22, a police personnel was killed when the HDT had been protesting for the aforesaid demands for nearly two months.
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Subsequently, police filed an FIR against Rehman on charges of murder, attempt to murder, provoking the people for violence and other charges.
The FIR, registered on Dec 30, 2022, named Rehman and two others as being responsible for the murder.
According to FIR's text, those named "provoked and incited the people at the protest site to pelt stones at government vehicles", which it said resulted in "shattering of car windows" of a police personnel and other losses.
Prior to his arrest, Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman
spoke to media and said that the government’s response to the legitimate demands of Gwadar’s protesters shows that the state is only concerned with the land of Gwadar, and
does not care about the people of Gwadar.