UPPER KOHISTAN , April 17, 2023: Security forces on Monday shifted a Chinese national, arrested on charges of blasphemy, from Upper Kohistan to Abbottabad in a Pakistan Army helicopter over safety concerns after protests erupted in the area.
Police had detained and lodged a first information report (FIR) against the suspect, who works at Dasu Hydropower Project, after labourers accused him of blasphemy on Sunday night.
Komila SHO Naseeruddin confirmed his arrest and said an FIR, invoking section 295-C [use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), had been lodged against the suspect.
The complaint, registered in the name of heavy vehicle drivers Gulistan and Yasir, said locals informed a police official Jahanzeb about a mob trying to break into a Chinese camp near Basreen. “The locals damaged camp’s site number 6 and staged a protest,” the FIR stated.
The police were moved on the information and “transferred the accused to the Komila police station”, the complaint read. However, locals reached the police station on Monday morning, blocked the Karakoram Highway, and shouted slogans.
The protestors called off the protest on the police’s assurance of the registration of the FIR.
Later, section 7 of the Terrorism Act was also added in the FIR, SHO Naseeruddin said, and the accused would be presented before a court in Abbottabad.