The re-arrest of PTI Vice Chairman and former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi shows that there are some forces within the government which are not interested in giving his party a level playing field. Mr Qureshi had been granted bail by the Islamabad High Court in the cipher case, for which he had been arrested, and was undergoing trial in jail. He should have been allowed to go free, but an order under the MPO was made by the DC Rawalpindi, putting him under detention so that there would be no disturbance created. Such orders have usually been struck down in the first appearance in a high court. That order was withdrawn the next day, Wednesday, but when Mr Qureshi was released, he was immediately re-arrested, though it was not clear on what charge. It was said that he was being charged with complicity in the events of May 9. That turned out to be the case when he was presented in the court of the duty magistrate on Thursday. The magistrate sent him on a 14-day judicial remand, though he denied the police the thee-day physical remand it had also asked for.
Perhaps the problem the police faced was effecting the arrest. Mr Qureshi’s co-accused in the cipher case, PTI Chairman Imran Khan, was not released, though also granted bail, because he was already arrested in the Toshakhana case. However, Mr Qureshi had not been arrested in any other case. Once he had got bail, only that hastily issued MPO order held him in jail, and it was withdrawn before the IHC could rule on it; Mr Qureshi was arrested in the May 9 cases. The most immediate lesson is that the courts are to be set at naught, and if someone is to be held, he will stay held, with at least the administration cooperating. The re-arrest is probably also bad news for Mr Khan, whose May 9 cases have not been touched for some time, as it implies that even if he struggles through the cipher and Toshakhana cases, he and his legal team will still have the May 9 cases to deal with.
The May 9 cases have now become fundamental, with the Returning Officers having all earlier been informed by the Rawalpindi Police about 63 persons accused of involvement in the May 9 attacks. The effort to drive the PTI out of the election seems to be overcoming the need to have a fair election in which all take part.
