PTI Sindh MPA arrested for ‘sexually assaulting’ woman

KARACHI: Police on Sunday arrested Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s Sindh chapter member provincial assembly (MPA) Shabbir Qureshi for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman.

Qureshi was taken into custody from outside his residence in upscale Clifton neighbourhood. According to details, a case under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), was registered on the complaint of a woman at Site B Section police station, claiming that Qureshi sexually assaulted her after luring her with a job offer and attempted to sexually assault her when she had gone there; however, she managed to escape from there.

Following the registration of the case, the police on early Sunday morning conducted a raid at his residence in Clifton and arrested him. Additional IG Karachi Javed Alam Odho also confirmed the arrest saying that he was arrested accordingly to law and he would be produced before a court on Monday (today).

On the other hand, Qureshi’s wife told that the police personnel – some of them in plainclothes – arrested Qureshi when he was leaving for Fajr prayers and then shifted him to the unknown location and later it was revealed that he was arrested by Site B Section police station.

She said that her husband is innocent and police have arrested him in a fake case. A CCTV footage was also released by opposition in the Sindh assembly Haleem Adil Shaikh, showing the arrest of the Shabbir Qureshi. Mochko police station SHO Chaudhry Shahid can be seen while arresting Qureshi; however, SHO Shahid when contacted denied his involvement in arresting the PTI leader saying that his police party went there to arrest a suspect and recover a car on the information provided by the already arrested criminal. PTI leaders including former Sindh governor Imran Ismail, opposition leader in the Sindh assembly Haleem Adil Shaikh and others also condemned the arrest and demanded the immediate arrest. PTI leaders also termed it a ‘state terrorism’.