Female PTI MPAs being harassed to obtain signatures for change of opposition leader: Zaman

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Parliamentary Leader in the Sindh Assembly Khurrum Sher Zaman has written a letter to Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani requesting him to stop harassment of female PTI MPAs by the Sindh police.

Zaman wrote in the letter that the Sindh police had been unlawfully harassing PTI MPAs, especially the female Sindh Assembly members of the party, to forcefully obtain the required number of signatures to change the leader of the opposition.

The Sindh police were illegally raiding the houses of the PTI’s female MPAs and using other dirty tactics that were unprecedented in the province, Zaman maintained. He cited in the letter the Article 14(1) of the Constitution that stated: “The dignity of man and, subject to law, the privacy of home, shall be inviolable.”

He asked the speaker what had happened to the respect of “Chadar and Char Deewari” in Sindh. He concluded the letter by strongly urging the speaker to take notice of the matter and direct the Sindh police to immediately halt such raids.

The PTI parliamentary leader alleged that the PPP government was employing such pressure tactics to help the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) get the slot of the leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly so that the two parties could bring their blue-eyed person as the caretaker chief minister to help them rig the upcoming elections.

Haleem’s statement

The Pakistan Peoples Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) have united for corruption under the slogan “Aao Milkar Khaate Hain”.

Sindh Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Haleem Adil Sheikh, who is also the leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly, said this in a video statement released on Friday. He said the PTI leaders had neither compromised on their principles nor bowed down amid the ongoing political victimisation.

Addressing the issue of changing the opposition leader of the Sindh Assembly, Sheikh said the issue of changing the leader of the opposition had all of a sudden become an important matter when only 18 to 20 days were left before the end of the Sindh Assembly’s tenure.

“We [PTI] left the position of Prime Minister and dissolved two assemblies. There’s no status in the position of the leader of opposition,” he said.

Regarding the caretaker government, Sheikh said he had written a letter to the Sindh chief minister proposing a meeting to discuss the matter.

He clarified that he was open to any name suggested for the caretaker chief minister, but lamented that the police had been harassing female PTI MPAs to coerced them to sign in favour of the opposition leader from the MQM-P.

Sheikh stated that if a majority of the opposition members signed against him in a legitimate manner, he would accept the decision gracefully.