Karachi: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that his government has gathered credible evidence showing that the complainants who lodged a criminal case against the son-in-law of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Captain (retired) Mohammad Safdar, provided false information to the police.
They also brazenly acted in connivance with the legislators of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf for conspiring against the leader of the rival political party who was on a visit of Karachi, Shah said.
The Sindh chief minister made this disclosure while speaking at a press conference here at Chief Minister House on Tuesday a day after Safdar, who is also a leader of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), was arrested by police for allegedly using threatening language and raising political slogans at the Mausoleum of Founder of the Nation Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Safdar visited the mausoleum along with his wife Maryam Nawaz and other leaders of PML(N) before attending the public meeting of the alliance of 11 Opposition political parties in the country-the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-in the adjacent Bagh-e-Jinnah. Safdar, hours after his arbitrary arrest from a posh hotel in Karachi where he had been staying with his wife, was released after securing bail from the court.
Shah, while speaking at a press conference, showed photographs to media persons, which according to him, provided undeniable evidence that the complainants of the case against Safdar have close relations with the leaders and legislators of the PTI. The photographs, according to the CM, showed that the complainants were like the associates of the PTI.
He disclosed to media persons that the police investigation had so far revealed that the main complainant of the case against Safdar had not been present at the mausoleum at the time of occurrence of alleged crime involving the PML(N) leader. The data of the cellular phone of the complainant showed that he was present several kilometres away on the Super Highway (the road which connects Karachi to Hyderabad).
He said that the manner in which the complainant had come to the police station to lodge the case and his past photographs clearly indicated his strong ties to the PTI.
He said that the complainants of the case and PTI in fact had violated the sanctity of the Mausoleum of the Founder of the Nation by providing false information to the police to lodge a criminal case against the leader of the rival political party.
He said that legislators of the PTI had unlawfully pressurized police to lodge a case against Safdar as they had become seriously upset after success of the PDM’s public meeting in Karachi. The CM defended the role of police in lodging the case against Safdar and then arresting him saying that the police action was in accordance with the law. However, he said he had reservations against the manner in which the police had acted to arrest Safdar.
He announced a ministerial committee to thoroughly probe the incident, saying that if needed he would also appear before the committee.
