Bilawal 'shocked' at Captain Safdar's arrest, calls Maryam Nawaz to condemn move

KARACHI: PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday slammed Captain (retd) Safdar's arrest, assuring his wife and PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz that the Sindh government will probe the matter.

Speaking to Maryam over the telephone, the PPP chairman expressed solidarity with the PML-N leader and said that the way Safdar was arrested is against the traditions of Sindh.

He said that the Sindh government was not informed about the arrest and has asked the Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to investigate the arrest and take all measures to secure the PML-N leader’s release.

Safdar, a senior leader of the PML-N and son-in-law of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was arrested from a hotel in Karachi this morning.

The PML-N leader was taken into custody after he was booked for violating the sanctity of the Quaid-e-Azam's Mazar where a day earlier, he had chanted the slogan "Vote Ko Izzat Do (respect the sanctity of the vote)".

Party workers and supporters had responded to Safdar's call and chanted along for an extended period of time as Maryam Nawaz and party spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb looked on.

The move was met by a fierce reaction by government representatives who not only demanded an apology but approached the police, asking them to initiate legal action against all those who participated in the act.