KARACHI – Ali Haider Zaidi, president of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sindh, was arrested by the Sindh Police at the party office in the coastal city on Saturday evening.
In a video shared by the PTI on its official Instagram handle, police personnel can be seen escorting Zaidi out of his party office and whisking him away in double cabin vehicle. Another police vehicle followed the double cabin carrying Zaidi.
The video showing the police arresting Zaidi was made by some people who were present on the rooftop of the building housing the PTI Sindh office. However, no reason has been cited for Zaidi’s arrest so far.
Zaidi, who served as the minister for maritime affairs under the PTI government from 2018 to 2022, has been quite vocal against the alleged regime change operation and the secret hands behind the removal of Imran Khan from power on April 10, 2022.
Zaidi was nominated, among other leaders of the PTI, in a terror case for allegedly vandalising the office of Keamari deputy commissioner (DC) during vote recount in local body elections in January this year.
The case was registered after PTI protested outside the office of the DC, where workers of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) were also present. Clashes between the supporters of PTI and PPP broke out when they came face to face outside the DC office.
“PTI leaders and workers vandalised the office, damaged the vehicles and took office belongings, including laptops. As a result of firing amid the chaos, three citizens were also injured,” reads the FIR.
On January 20, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) granted Zaidi pre-arrest bail in this case.
61 PTI workers arrested as police raid Imran Khan’s house in Zaman Park
PTI leader Shireen Mazari condemned Zaidi’s arrest and said that men in plainclothes led the raid on PTI’s Karachi office. In a tweet, Mazari said, “Another PTI leader, Ali Zaidi, President Sindh, abducted without any warrant from PTI office in Karachi. Notice the plainclothes men leading the arrest. Condemnable & illegal.”
The PTI leadership has been putting up a strong resistance to coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif since April 10, 2022, the day Imran Khan was removed as prime minister of Pakistan and Sharif was installed in his place. PTI Chairman Imran Khan says more than 100 cases have been registered against him alone.
Also, cases were registered against PTI leaders Hassan Khan Niazi (Imran Khan’s nephew and focal person), Fawad Chaudhry, Asad Umar, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Azam Khan Swati, Shahbaz Gill, Azhar Mashwani (head of PTI’s social media cell) and last but not the least Ali Amin Gandapur.