KARACHI: Karachi police on Tuesday arrested Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and Sindh Assembly Opposition Leade Haleem Adil Sheikh on charges of violating the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) rules during a by-election to a provincial assembly seat in Malir.
The ECP has ordered his expulsion from Karachi’s constituency of PS-88 Malir, where by-polls are taking place for a seat of the Sindh Assembly.
Haleem Adil Sheikh arrested for illegal display of weapons and open violation of ECP’s Laws and Code of Conduct #MalirKaNishaanTeer pic.twitter.com/N2p9vkQ0TM
— Syeda Aqraba Fatima (@AqrabaFatima) February 16, 2021
A spokesperson for Sheikh confirmed the MP had been detained by police officials in Darsano Chano neighbourhood of Malir district.
The police are yet to comment on the situation.
The constituency saw an aggressive election campaign from all political parties, especially the main contestants — the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the PTI.
In 2018 elections, Ghulam Murtaza Baloch of PPP had won the seat by bagging more than 22,000 votes against Muhammad Rizwan Khan of the PTI who got 16,386 votes.
The seat fell vacant after Baloch died of Covid-19 in June last.
For the by-election, the PPP has given the ticket to Baloch’s son, Yousuf Murtaza Baloch.
Some 108 polling stations have been set up in the constituency, out of which 36 have been declared “sensitive” and another 33 “highly sensitive”.
Meanwhile, PTI Parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly Bilal Ghafar has condemned the arrest of opposition leader in Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Shaikh here on Tuesday.
He said firing on a vehicle of Haleem Adil Shaikh was an apparent defeat of the PPP. He added that the negative political training of PPP was evident from the actions of Jiyalas.
Bilal said they would not tolerate bullying from PPP in the by-elections.
He said the PPP `Jiyalas’ were resorting to unrest for rigging in the by-elections, adding that every PTI worker stood by Haleem Adil Shaikh.
Similarly, PTI Karachi President and Member Sindh Assembly Khurram Sher Zaman in a press release said that what happened in PS-88 had been highlighted by the entire media. The real face of the PPP has come out in front of everyone, he said, adding that PPP tries to intimidate the opponents through fake first information reports (FIRs) and bullying threats.
He claimed that PPP cadres rigged polling stations in rural areas and that the women of the PTI party had been harassed. PPP thugs took our polling agents hostage, he added. When rigging started in rural areas, we went there to take care of our workers, he maintained.
Janshir Junejo, Sindh Assembly members Saeed Afridi, Shehzad Qureshi, Rabistan Khan, Karim Bakhsh Gabol, National Assembly member Saima Nadeem, PTI leader Sameer Mir Sheikh and other leaders and workers were present.
Khurram Sherzaman further said that not once during the whole ordeal did they see law enforcement agencies in action. “Nowhere did we see the Election Commission taking notice. The Election Commission has failed to hold transparent elections,” he lambasted
He further said that the PTI condemned the incident that took place with opposition leader of Sindh Haleem Adil Sheikh. People with them are also in danger, he added.
PPP is threatened by the city of Karachi and PTI, Sherzaman added, claiming that the PPP has looted the entire province. He accused the Sindh chief minister of being incompetent and alleged that Murad Ali Shah had rigged PS-88 through superintendents (SSPs) and station house officers (SHOs).
He added that Haleem Adil Sheikh speaks against corruption so he is being targeted for revenge. The election has become controversial even before the election result, Sherzaman said.
“Today’s election is completely non-transparent, not in words but all the parties participating in the election are saying this,” he asserted. “The people of Sindh know that this is not Benazir’s party.”
“Today there is destruction in the province. We will announce our strategy. All the ministers were present in the campaign. We will not forgive them. We will protest all over the city,” Sherzaman continued.
Later on, PTI candidate from PS-88 Jansher Junejo said that the spectacle put on by PPP showed that the party did not hesitate to use the government machinery in the constituency relentlessly.
“This is an attack on the mandate of the people,” he asserted, “Opposition leader Haleem Adil Sheikh and our workers have been attacked.”
“We have lodged complaints with the Election Commission several times but no action has been taken. We will always fight for the rights of the people,” he concluded.
Earlier today, the PPP wrote a letter to the ECP and urged it to take notice of the alleged rule violations by Sheikh.
“Sheikh, being a member of the Sindh Assembly, is not permitted under the law to enter the constituency and that too with armed persons. He has been reported to have entered with armed persons in polling stations 20 and 22 of Bhitai Abad.
“Voters are being taken to the PTI office situated in the area and being given parchis on the promise of being paid Rs12,000 under the Ehsaas programme if they vote for the PTI candidate,” read the letter by Taj Haider, the in charge of the PPP’s Central Election Cell (CEC).
The PPP urged the ECP to expel the provincial lawmaker and his armed guards from the constituency and to take further suitable action.
Separately, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Shehryar Khan Afridi on Tuesday said the PTI government awarded the Senate tickets to loyal, ideological and credible workers to help bring about effective legislation and to contribute their services for the best national interest.
“We are committed to hold the upcoming Senate elections through show of hands to end the politics of horse trading to ensure transparency in it,” he said while talking to PTV.
He saluted Prime Minister Imran Khan who had awarded the party tickets to honest and credible leaders by reviewing their political services for the country and masses.
Both PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had introduced the dirty politics of horse-trading, he said, terming the parties as champions of corruption. He added that the action would be taken against those who had found involved in this practice during Senate elections 2018.
The chairman asked the opposition parties to come into the Parliament which was the best forum to discuss or make a reform on the electoral process to ensure more transparency in the system.
He assured that people would reject the anti-state narrative of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in the forthcoming Senate elections while PTI would clinch majority seats in that regards.
BY-POLLS HELD:
Polling took place on Tuesday in the by-elections for vacant Sindh and Balochistan Assembly seats — PS-43 Sanghar III, PS-88 Malir II and PB-20 Pishin III.
All three seats fell vacant, last year after the lawmakers elected from the seats passed away due to the coronavirus.
As of the time of filing, counting is underway.
At least seven candidates are competing for the vacant Sindh Assembly seat from PS-43, wherein many observers have so far reported a close contest between PPP’s Jam Shabbir Ali and PTI’s Mushtaq Junejo.
In PS-88, 20 candidates are vying for the Sindh Assembly seat PS-88, that fell vacant after the death of Sindh’s Minister for Human Settlement Ghulam Murtaza Baloch. The PPP has fielded Muhammad Yousuf Baloch as its candidate, PTI has named Jansher Junejo, Muttahida Qaumi Movement has named former MPA Sajid Ahmed and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s has fielded Syed Kashif Ali.
In PB-20, votes are choosing between 27 candidates, wherein experts believe that Balochistan Awami Party’s (BAP) Asmatullah Tareen, PDM’s joint candidate Azizullah Agha and three independent candidates Amardeen Agha, Sajid Noor Khan and Aismatullah are the favourites to win the by-poll.
with additional input from APP
