KARACHI: A district and sessions court in Malir on Saturday extended the bail of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and Sindh Assembly Opposition Leader Haleem Adil Sheikh in a case pertaining to violence, attacking and hurling death threats to officials of the anti-encroachment department and police during an operation against illegal encroachments last month.
During the hearing, the court expressed displeasure at the investigation officer (IO) for failing to produce a progress report and directed the authorities to present the report in the next hearing.
Subsequently, the court extended his bail until March 24 and adjourned the hearing.
In February, the Sindh government launched an anti-encroachment drive on the outskirts of Karachi, demolishing dozens of farmhouses claimed to be owned by Sheikh and his family and recovered around 1,700 acres of state-owned land.
As officials insisted that the action was part of a government drive in line with the Supreme Court’s directives against encroachments, Sheikh and PTI came up with a strong reaction describing the action of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) administration as political vendetta and vowed to take up the issue at all relevant forums.
“I and my family owned these lands since 2001,” the opposition leader had said at the time.
“The land was acquired after meeting all formalities. We were awarded the land on a 99-year lease by the relevant department. We have all the required documents, but let me tell you it’s not about documents or legality […] it aims at stopping someone from struggling against their corruption but it would never happen.”
