PTI-backed candidate ‘arrested’ from Faisalabad

FAISALABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed candidate from PP-118 in elections 2024 and former minister Khayal Ahmed Kastro has been arrested outside a local court in Faisalabad.

According to ARY News, he was arrested by the police from outside a local court where he has appeared for bail in the case pertaining to May 9.

The party sources said that Khayal Ahmed Kastro was manhandled by the police before the arrest as plainclothes persons dragged him into the car.

The family of the candidate condemned the ‘illegal’ act and said that Khayal Ahmed Kastro was awarded a bail by the court.

“The arrest is aimed at halting the PTI-backed candidate from contesting the poll,” they added.

Khayal Ahmed Kastro was a member Punjab Assembly from 2018 to 2023 and also served as minister for culture and colonies. He is set the general elections from from PP-118 (Faisalabad) as an independent backed by the PTI,

Read More: PTI candidates to contest election independently as ‘bat’ revoked

Earlier on 14^th January, the PTI announced that its candidates would contest elections independently following the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision setting aside the Peshawar High Court (PHC) order that reinstated “bat” as the party’s electoral symbol.

Talking to journalists outside the apex court, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that all the party candidates will contest the Feb 8 general elections independently. “We will issue a list of all our candidates with their election symbols,” he said.