By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: A former foreign minister and key ally of former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested again on Wednesday, shortly after he was freed on bail in a case involving alleged leaks of state secrets.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the vice chairman of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was granted bail by the Supreme Court last week in the cipher case, which centers on an alleged diplomatic correspondence between Washington and Islamabad that Khan claims was evidence of a US plot to remove him from power in a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April 2022.
Qureshi was ordered to post surety bonds worth Rs1 million as a condition of his release. But as his family arrived at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi to pay the bond, they learned that the local authorities had issued an order for his 15-day detention under a law that allows them to detain anyone deemed a threat to public safety or order.
The order was later rescinded, but not before Qureshi was roughed up by police officers and forced into an armored vehicle outside the jail gate. Video of the incident, shared by the PTI on social media, showed Qureshi, wearing a cardigan and a traditional shalwar kameez, trying to speak to the police while being pushed and dragged.
“Look at this. What is this?” Qureshi said, as the crowd shouted at the officers to be careful. “They are arresting me again in a false case. I represented the nation, I am innocent and I am being targeted for political revenge without any reason.”
“The Supreme Court order has been mocked,” he said before sitting in the police vehicle. “The Supreme Court released me and they are arresting me again in a false case.”
Local media reported that Qureshi was arrested for questioning in connection with the May 9 case, which refers to the violence that erupted in different parts of Pakistan when Khan was briefly arrested from a court on corruption charges.
Hundreds of people carrying PTI flags attacked government buildings — including a top general’s residence in Lahore and the army headquarters in Rawalpindi — and engaged in rioting and arson. The PTI also faced a massive crackdown after the incident, with several of its top leaders quitting the party after being arrested by the law enforcement authorities.
Qureshi’s daughter, Meher Bano, filed a complaint with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the “unlawful abduction” of her father. She said that the ECP’s “silence” on the issue was a breach of its duty to ensure free and fair elections.
Bano also said the incident occurred during the period of the published election schedule and was tantamount to “denying the largest political party of the country … a level playing field.”
“We expect the ECP to take immediate notice of this grave violation of the election code of conduct and take action against the Rawalpindi administration and police for their illegal and unconstitutional actions,” she said.
President Arif Alvi also condemned the police’s move to re-arrest Qureshi in an “undignified manner,” urging the authorities to take notice of the matter.
“Incidents of paper snatching, brutal action on protesters, and now treating an ex foreign minister from two regimes in an undignified manner must draw the attention of the authorities,” Alvi wrote on social media platform X.
Alvi said arguments that similar incidents happened before “do not cut ice,” adding that if Pakistan wanted to change, there was no better time than now.
“Let us not become a state where human rights & dignity are trampled upon with impunity,” he said.
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