ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday condemned the arrest of a senior party leader, Ali Haider Zaidi, by police in Karachi while describing the development as part of an elaborate scheme to “crush” his political faction.
Zaidi served as the federal minister for maritime affairs in Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) administration before its downfall in a no-confidence vote last year in April.
He is also considered to be close to the former prime minister who appointed him as the party president in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province.
Zaidi is not the only PTI leader who has been arrested by the authorities in recent months. Several of Khan’s close aides, including his former chief of staff Shahbaz Gill, Azam Swati and Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, were also detained in recent months amid allegations of custodial torture.
“Strongly condemn [the] arrest of another of our senior leaders, Ali Zaidi from Karachi,” said the former prime minister in a Twitter post. “All part of the London Plan where Nawaz [Sharif was] given assurances PTI would be crushed.”
Khan maintained that over 3,000 PTI workers had been “arrested, abducted and terrorised” in recent months. He added that a new plan had been made to target his Zaman Park residence in Lahore after 27th of Ramadan or over Eid.
“They think this will weaken us in case elections are held,” he added. “Let me state categorically this will not work. People’s anger [is] only increasing & they will see the blowback of this nefarious London Plan in elections.”
Earlier in the day, senior PTI vice president Chaudhry Fawad Hussain announced Zaidi’s arrest on Twitter, saying the police had not followed the required legal procedure.
“Tehreek-e-Insaf President [in Sindh] Ali Zaidi has been arrested without any warrant,” he said. “This system of cruelty and oppression is not acceptable in any way.”
Hussain’s tweet was also accompanied by a short video clip in which several police personnel can be seen taking Zaidi with them in an official vehicle.
According to a case registered against the detained PTI leader at a local police station in Karachi, he was arrested on the charge of committing “fraud” after he allegedly took Rs180 million loan from the primary complainant against him but refused to return the amount.
The Pakistani authorities have registered a slew of cases against most PTI leaders who were arrested in recent months.
Khan himself faces some serious charges that range from corruption to incitement to violence and is currently on protective bail.
