Karachi: Leader of Opposition in Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Sheikh, of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was arrested from a hotel in Lahore in the wee hours of Wednesday, where he had been lodging along with his family.
This is the second time that Sheikh, who is a vocal PTI leader in Sindh, has been arrested since 2021. Sheikh has been facing a number of criminal cases.
The security personnel in plainclothes arrested Sheikh from the hotel around 3:30am.
In her video message hours after the arrest, Ayesha Sheikh, daughter of the Opposition leader, said that plainclothesmen had whisked away her father without showing any arrest warrant.
She said that despite the passage of considerable time neither the family nor the lawyers of the Opposition leader had any knowledge as to where his father had been taken, whether he was in safe custody, and under what charges he had been arrested.
She said that her father was a victim of political vendatta as he consistently exposed the bad governance and corrupt practices of the provincial authorities.
Ayesha said that last week her father had sent letters to the authorities including the Chief Justice of Pakistan while mentioning that his life had been in danger as he could be harmed after arrest.
She recalled that last week up to 20 police mobile vans had been stationed outside their residential colony in Karachi to keep an eye on the movement of the people.
At a press conference in Karachi, former Sindh Governor and senior PTI leader, Imran Ismail, said that Sheikh was arrested ‘in a manner as if he was a terrorist’.
He said the Sindh government would be responsible if any harm was done to the Opposition leader.
The PTI also announced a demonstration will be held outside Karachi Press Club against his arrest.
