KARACHI: An engineer arrested in the Boat Basin locality on Oct 6 for allegedly distributing pamphlets of the proscribed Hizbut Tahrir has been released and kept under watch, Dawn learnt on Thursday.

Confirming the development, Mazhar Mashwani, deputy superintendent of the Counter Terrorism Depar tment, said: `Owais Raheel is under watch at the moment.

He said a Joint Investigation Team listened to Owais`s case soon after he was arrested. `Since he was not involved in criminal activities and was found distributing pamphlets of Hizbut Tahrir, the JIT decided he should be kept on the watch list under the fourth schedule under Section 11-EEEE of the AntiTerrorism Act,` said DSP Mashwani.

From now on, the alleged suspect would need permission from the relevant police station to move around in the city, he added.

Raheel was arrested after he was found distributing pamphlets of the banned organisation outside mosques in the Clifton and Defence areas, the officer said.

Owais`s family is, however, reluctant to speak on the matter.