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  "path": "/news/1973479/man-arrested-for-attacking-engineer-muhammad-ali-mirza-in-jhelum-police",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-15T18:45:29.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.dawn.com",
  "tags": [
    "Pakistan",
    "protective custody",
    "_Section 3_",
    "_channel_",
    "_speeches were banned_",
    "_assassination attempt_",
    "_booked and arrested_",
    "_released on bail_"
  ],
  "textContent": "JHELUM: A man was arrested on Sunday after he reportedly attacked cleric Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza, the police said.\n\nPer a first information report (FIR), a copy of which is available with _Dawn_ , the incident took place in Jhelum at Mirza’s Qur’an-o-Sunnat Research Academy at the end of a lecture.\n\nAccording to the complainant Muhammad Kashif Qureshi, a core member of the academy, attendees were returning home after listening to the lecture, but some of them stayed back to take selfies with Engineer Mirza.\n\n“Just then, a man attacked Engineer Mirza by grabbing his collar, throwing punches at him, and removing his turban,” the FIR quoted Qureshi as saying.\n\n“He violently threw his honourable turban onto the ground, strangled him with both hands to suffocate him, and loudly chanted slogans,” he added.\n\nQureshi was quoted as saying that people present at the site of the incident intervened immediately to protect the scholar.\n\n“We then handed him over to the police on duty to ensure that legal action is taken against the criminal,” he said in his complaint.\n\nDistrict Police Officer (DPO) Jhelum Tariq Aziz Sindhu, while talking to _Dawn,_ said that the police have arrested the alleged attacker and the FIR was filed against him under section 324 (attempted murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code.\n\n“Further investigations about the background of the attacker are underway,” DPO Sindhu added.\n\nThe DPO said that a four-tier security of police had been deployed at Mirza’s academy, adding that the police had repeatedly warned him to avoid taking selfies with the strangers entering as audience at his sessions.\n\nThe officer added that the scholar had previously been attacked too and was taken into the police’s protective custody last year under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) by Jhelum’s deputy commissioner after an activist of the banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) accused him of blasphemy and registered a case against him. He was later released on bail.\n\n_Section 3_ of the MPO ordinance gives authorities the power to arrest and detain suspected persons to prevent “any person from acting in any manner prejudicial to public safety” or to maintain public order.\n\nMirza, a resident of Machine Mohallah of Jhelum city, frequently uploads his lectures and speeches on his social media accounts and has amassed 3.1 million followers on his YouTube _channel_.\n\nIn 2024, he was among 17 clerics whose _speeches were banned_ by then-Jhelum DC during Muharram to prevent any potential sectarian violence.\n\nThe popular cleric survived an _assassination attempt_ at a religious academy in March 2021. The suspect was taken into custody, and a case of attempted murder was registered against him.\n\nThe cleric had also been _booked and arrested_ by the Jhelum police in May 2020 for derogatory remarks against some religious figures. However, he was later _released on bail_.",
  "title": "Man arrested for attacking Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza in Jhelum: police"
}