Ibrahim Hyderi school: Haleem Adil Shaikh in hot water over school vandalism issue

PTI leader and several others booked in two FIRs for vandalism, intervening in official duty

KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Haleem Adil Shaikh and several others have been booked in two FIRs on Saturday for vandalising a private school in Ibrahim Hyderi and intervening in official duty.

Two separate cases were registered at the Ibrahim Hyderi police station - FIR No 10/18 was registered on behalf of the state while FIR No 11/18 was registered on behalf of the school administration.  Multiple sections of the Pakistan Penal Code such as sections 147, 148, 149, 117, 152, 153, 336, 452, 427, 186, 353 and 337 were placed in the FIRs.

“PTI’s senior executive vice-president Haleem Adil Shaikh and PTI’s local president Jamila Baloch are among around 35 others booked in the FIRs,” said Ibrahim Hyderi DSP Irfan Zaman. “We have booked them for disturbing the law and order situation, vandalising the school, rioting, beating up a watchman and intervening in official police duty.”

DSP Zaman said that the police are looking for footage to identify the other suspects - either PTI workers or local residents - who vandalised the school, adding that Shaikh and the others took the law into their own hands. No arrests have been made yet, as the police are waiting for instructions from higher authorities.



MF Grammar High School was vandalised on Friday and its watchman was severely beaten up by a crowd in Ibrahim Hyderi after rumours of a minor girl’s molestation spread.

A mob gathered outside the school and first chanted slogans against the administration and then turned violent. The crowd locked the staff in the staff room and began breaking furniture and smashing windows.

The mob also caught hold of the watchman and beat him up. The law enforcers, however, took custody of the watchman and shifted him to the police station for questioning.

The watchman is still in police custody and, according to DSP Zaman, no case has been registered. The girl’s family has already refused to register a case, dispelling rumours of sexual abuse.

Shaikh strongly condemned the registration of the FIR against him. “The police only registered two cases against me. I don’t care if the police register 200 cases against me because I am fighting for the protection and rights of our daughters and sisters,” he said. “Since last year, a number of cases of molestation, sexual harassment and rape of minor children have occurred in District Malir. My party was forcing the police to take action for the elimination of such incidents and to arrest culprits but the police registered cases against me to force me to withdraw my support,” he alleged.

He called the FIRs political victimisation by the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government. Addressing a joint press conference at the Karachi Press Club with other PTI leaders Khurrum Sher Zaman, Jameel Ahmed and Jay Parkash Ukrani, Shaikh said he had nothing to do with the mob that entered the school. He claimed he rescued the guard who was about to be lynched by the mob.