Former Punjab provincial minister and PTI-affiliated independent candidate Khayal Ahmad Kastro was arrested by the Faisalabad police on Friday from the premises of a lower court after his bail was cancelled in a May 9 case.
Faisalabad Police Spokesperson Malik Shahid confirmed the arrest to Dawn.com. He said Kastro was nabbed after his bail was cancelled in a May 9 case registered against him at the Raza Abad Police Station.
Footage posted on PTI’s official social media account on X showed four unknown persons in plain clothes forcibly shifting Kastro into a white Toyota Yaris.
One unidentified person holding a rifle could be seen wearing black boots and khaki-coloured trousers — a similarity with the uniforms of Punjab police personnel.
According to the FIR (first information report), a copy of which is available with PTI, the May 9 vandalism case against Kastro was registered under Pakistan Penal Code Sections 290 (Punishment for public nuisance in cases not otherwise provided for) and 291 (Continuance of nuisance after injunction to discontinue), as well as the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance.
PTI Secretary General and former federal minister Omar Ayub Khan condemned the arrest, saying that “there was no justice, rule of law or level playing field in Pakistan”.
In a post on X, he said: “Khayal Kastro PTI MPA candidate and former MPA being abducted by unknown people in broad daylight outside the court by unknown people after he had been granted bail by the court.”
On January 13, two PTI leaders, former transport minister Jahanzaib Khichi and former MPA Waseem Khan Badozai were reportedly taken away by unidentified individuals from the returning officer’s (RO) offices in Mailsi (district Vehari) and Multan.
They had gone to submit their party tickets at the RO offices.
The next day, former MPA, tehsil Nazim, and PTI-affiliated candidate for NA-135 Malik Muhammad Akram Bhatti along with his son Salman Akram and 40 others were booked for hooliganism and issuing threats to the assistant returning officer (ARO).