Pakistan

PTI senior leader arrested on ‘forgery charges’

Party chief terms Ali Zaidi’s arrest part of London Plan, last-ditch effort to revive ‘dying politics’ of rulers

Our Correspondent April 16, 2023

PTI Karachi president Ali Zaidi. PHOTO: NNI

KARACHI:

The Ibrahim Hyderi Police on Saturday arrested former federal minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ali Zaidi on charges of forgery.

The police registered a case against him under sections 468, 471, 420 and 506 based on a complaint filed by plaintiff Fazal Elahi.

The incident pertains to a transaction that took place in 2013, where Zaidi allegedly took Rs180 million from Elahi and gave him a file that was supposed to be worth Rs167.5 million.

Zaidi promised to give the remaining Rs12.5 million after six months, but he failed to do so.

When Elahi demanded his money back, Zaidi reportedly evaded, and the file turned out to be fake.

Elahi claims that he and his family received threats from Zaidi over the matter.

The arrest of Ali Zaidi was made from the Sindh House, located in Defence Phase 6 Bukhari Commercial.

A CCTV footage of the arrest has gone viral on social media.

PTI leaders and workers have expressed their anger over the arrest and have strongly condemned it.

According to the PTI spokesperson, Zaidi was holding a meeting of organisational officials at the PTI Sindh Secretariat when he was arrested by police officials in civvies and uniform.

The police entered the party office without any warrant and took him to an unknown location.

The PTI leaders and workers have protested the incident, calling it an illegal raid and arrest of the provincial president against law.

Following the arrest, a large number of PTI officials and workers gathered at the Ibrahim Hyderi police station to protest the incident.

The Express Tribune tried to contact Karachi Police Chief Javed Alam Odhu, SSP District Malir and SSP District South for the comments but did not receive any response.

Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan denounced the arrest, describing it part of ‘London Plan’ where Nawaz Sharif was given assurances that PTI would be crushed.