PTI Sindh president Ali Haider Zaidi was arrested from the party’s office in Karachi on Saturday after a case was registered against him at Ibrahim Hyderi police station.
According to the first information report (FIR), the case was registered under Sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Police have not issued any official statement on the matter yet.
A video posted on PTI’s official Twitter account showed a man, thought to be Zaidi, being escorted into a white automobile by men in civvies surrounded by uniformed police personnel.
In another video from inside the PTI Secretariat, officials can be seen pushing and dragging Zaidi by his arm.
The party’s provincial media department claimed Zaidi was arrested from the PTI Secretariat without a warrant.
“The police entered the party office without any warrant,” the party’s Sindh spokesperson said. “Zaidi was holding a meeting with district representatives [at the time].”
The spokesperson said the police and men in civvies moved Zaidi to an undisclosed location.
“The police personnel also confiscated some mobile phones from the party’s office,” he said, adding that the raid was “illegal”.
