KARACHI: Karachi police have booked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and Sindh Assembly Opposition Leader Haleem Adil Sheikh under sections of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, a day after he was arrested from Malir on charges of violating the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) rules during a by-election.
The first information report (FIR) was filed at the Memon Goth police station late Tuesday night — becoming the fourth case filed against Sheikh on the same day.
Police are expected to produce the PTI leader before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) today to seek his remand.
Sheikh was arrested after the ECP ordered his expulsion from Karachi’s constituency of PS-88 Malir, where by-polls took place for a seat of the Sindh Assembly.
Later in the day, 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 People’s 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. But the seat fell vacant after Baloch died of Covid-19 in June last.
For the by-election, the PPP awarded the ticket to Baloch’s son, Yousuf Murtaza Baloch.
