PTI files motion in PA to condemn Fawad Chaudhry’s arrest

Khurrum Sher Zaman on Wednesday submitted a resolution in the Provincial Assembly of Sindh to condemn the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry.

The resolution characterises the arrest as “truly appalling, as it appears that the intention of both the federal and Punjab governments is to silence dissent in this country”. This House asks the government how criticising the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decisions, and even ECP members, is a call for violence against their families, reads the motion.

Zaman, the PTI’s parliamentary party leader in the PA, asks in the resolution: “When the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s decisions can be criticised, why not the ECP’s? Or are they sacred cows in this country?”

The party laments in the motion that “fascism exists in Pakistan because of the high-handedness of the state and the police in the arrest of Fawad Chaudhry”. “This House condemns the political victimisation campaign waged against the PTI leadership and workers by caretaker chief minister Mohsin Naqvi,” reads the resolution, concluding with the demand that the police immediately release Chaudhry.

‘IK arrest a red line’

Addressing a press conference, Sindh PTI President and former federal minister Syed Ali Haider Zaidi said that the political victimisation of Imran Khan along with the PTI leadership and workers was not the solution to the crisis Pakistan was facing.

He condemned the arrest of PTI Central Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry in the early hours of the morning by the Punjab police for what he said ‘non-sense charges’ of threatening members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and their families.

“The caretaker Punjab government and the imported government are trying to arrest Imran Khan. We warn the imported government not to cross the red line by arresting Imran Khan, as this would create more chaos throughout the country,” said Zaidi.

He was accompanied by former Sindh chief minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi and PTI Sindh vice president Arsalan Agha. Zaidi lamented that officers of the Punjab police who had tortured the PTI leadership and workers on May 25, 2022, had been brought back by the caretaker regime in Punjab.

He asked whether the ECP had suddenly become a sacred cow that could not be criticised even though its ability to conduct free and fair elections was doubtful. The Sindh PTI president lamented that Uzair Baloch had been acquitted in his 25th case and if this trend continued, he could be eligible to become a caretaker chief minister of Sindh. In his concluding remarks, Zaidi stated that Caretaker Punjab CM Mohsin Naqvi had proven his loyalty to the imported government and he had an anti-PTI bias.