Pakistani court grants conditional bail to Gulalai Ismail's father

A Pakistani court on Monday granted conditional bail to human rights activist Gulalai Ismail's father, Professor Muhammad Ismail.

A single-member bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) comprising Justice Qaiser Rasheed asked professor Ismail to be careful in the future. The court has also asked him to submit a surety of Rs 100,000 as well as personal guarantees from two individuals, Dawn reported.

Muhammad was sent on a 14-day judicial remand on October 25 after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Peshawar arrested him following an FIR lodged against him under the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016.

The case was filed after a complaint was registered against Professor Ismail by persons namely Sajid Iqbal, Ali Ahmad, Riazur Rehman and Walid Mir on October 8.

Gulalai, who is currently in the US, had alleged that her father was picked up by "men wearing militia dress" in Peshawar. "My father has been picked up by men wearing Militia dress from outside of Peshawar High Court an hour ago," she had tweeted.

She had termed the "abduction" of her father in Peshawar an attempt to terrorise the women of Pakistan and others who dare to use their "conditional rights".