Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party announced on Saturday its vice chairman, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, had been arrested from his residence in the federal capital hours after holding a news conference in which he pointed out his party members were facing harassment from the state.
Qureshi served as Pakistan’s former foreign minister under the PTI administration and was appointed by Khan as the vice chairman ahead of his conviction in a graft case in which a local court handed him a three-year sentence.
Addressing a news conference at the National Press Club in Islamabad, Qureshi said that PTI leaders and their families had been targeted by various law enforcement agencies that were raiding their houses and shutting down their businesses and factories.
“Tehreek-e-Insaf Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi has been arrested again illegally,” the PTI said in a social media post. “[Qureshi] was arrested by a heavy contingent of police from his residence in Islamabad. [He] is being transferred to FIA headquarters.”
The police have yet to announce the charges against the PTI vice chairman.
Prior to his arrest, he criticized the caretaker administration of Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar for not doing enough to provide a level playing field to his party ahead of the coming general elections.
Qureshi was also arrested after the May 9 violence which broke out after ex-PM Khan was briefly detained in a corruption case from a court in Islamabad, with PTI supporters targeting government building and military installations in response.
Many PTI leaders announced to leave the party after the incident. Some even said they had decided to quit politics altogether after being taken into custody by law enforcement agencies.
Topics: Shah Mahmood Quresh Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party Imran Khan May 9 protests