Karachi: The leader of Opposition in Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Sheikh, has expressed his apprehension that over 20 criminal cases lodged against him in the province are aimed at falsely imprisoning him - and are aimed at enabling his custodial death.
Sheikh, who belongs to Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, mentioned the grave threats to his life in a letter written to chief justices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and Sindh High Court.
He said a conspiracy had been hatched to unduly imprison him and bar him from discharging his constitutional responsibilities as the Opposition Leader in the province.
He said the provincial police force had been attempting to apprehend him at the time when his daughter was getting married and the budget session of the Sindh Assembly was in progress, where he had to deliver a speech to critically evaluate the budgetary affairs of the province.
He said false cases had been lodged against him on the political grounds to penalise him for speaking on behalf of the “oppressed people” of the province and against the government corruption.
He said last year, too, that he had been deprived of the opportunity to speak in the provincial legislature on the Sindh government’s budget.
He said the rulers in the province had intensified the campaign against him for the past month and the police had raided his home several times to arrest him, despite the fact that he had obtained pre-arrest bail from the court.
Sheikh recalled that his life had twice been threatened during imprisonment last year, when a snake had been found in his cell and criminals had also attempted to attack him in jail.
He also slammed the fact that the cell phone of his wife, who is also a lawmaker, had been snatched by the MPAs of the ruling party on the floor of the Sindh Assembly soon after Sindh Chief Minister unveiled the new provincial budget.
