Traders arrested for opening shops obtain bail

A District South judicial magistrate on Saturday approved bail applications moved by the six traders who were detained for opening their shops in violation of the lockdown measures imposed by the government to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the city.

The magistrate directed All City Traders Alliance President Hammad Poonawala, Faisal Hasan Zai, Ahmed Ahsan Gujjar, Aqeel Shahzad, Javed Qureshi and Muhammad Javed to submit a surety of Rs150,000 each in order to be released.

The same court on Thursday had sent the traders to jail on a 14-day judicial remand while seeking the charge sheet against them for allegedly inciting violence, violating the lockdown and putting public lives in danger. The accused had denied the allegations.

The remand papers read that these men were leading a group of traders of the iron, steel and timber markets in the Old City area who opened their shops despite clear instructions by the Sindh government against that. They added that when police asked them to close the markets, they gathered under Poonawala and on his provocation chanted slogans and attacked law enforcement agencies’ personnel.

The FIR was registered under sections 188 (disobedience to order duty promulgated by public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the state at the Napier police station.