PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was granted bail in the cipher case by the Supreme Court last week, was arrested outside the Adiala Jail on Wednesday.
Footage aired on television and shared by the party on social media showed Qureshi, who was loudly protesting the “illegality” of the police’s actions, being shoved into an armoured police vehicle by an official wearing the Punjab police uniform.
In a post on X, the PTI said that Qureshi was again arrested from outside the Adiala Jail after being released on bail in the cipher case. The party said that the order issued yesterday by the Rawalpindi DC for Qureshi’s 15-day detention had been withdrawn.
Police have not yet responded to Dawn.com’s request for a comment regarding the case in which the PTI leader was taken into custody.
Footage shared by the party on Instagram showed Qureshi, clad in a cardigan and a shalwar kameez, attempting to speak to police personnel gathered outside the jail. However, a Punjab police official refused to listen and then proceeded to shove Qureshi forward towards the police vehicle.
“Look at this. What is this?” Qureshi can be heard saying as he is pushed the entire way to the van as the crowd yells at officials to be careful.
Qureshi said that police were making a mockery of the Supreme Court’s orders. “They are arresting me again in a false case,” he said.
“I represented the nation, I am innocent and I am being targeted for political revenge without any reason,” he said.
On Friday, the top court had granted bail to former prime minister Imran Khan and his close aide Qureshi in the cipher case and told to submit surety bonds worth Rs1 million each. Qureshi’s daughter had said she expected her father would be released as his arrest was not required in any other case.
Yesterday, Qureshi’s family had arrived at Adiala Jail to pay his surety bond but before they could obtain the robkar (release order), it emerged that Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner (DC) Hassan Waqar Cheema had issued an order for the former foreign minister’s 15-day detention under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).
Section 3 of MPO empowers the government to arrest and detain suspected persons. It states: “The government, if satisfied that with a view to preventing any person from acting in any manner prejudicial to public safety or the maintenance of public order, it is necessary to do, may, by an order in writing, direct the arrest and detention in such custody […] and [the] government, if satisfied that for the aforesaid reasons, it is necessary so to do, may extend from time to time the period of such detention, for a period not exceeding six months at a time.”
More to follow
