The PTI leadership has condemned the arrest of party leaders Senator Saifullah Niazi and Hamid Zaman even as conflicting reports emerge about the two being in custody.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, speaking to the media in Islamabad, confirmed that Niazi was taken into custody for questioning while adding that he wasn’t arrested. “If needed, we will arrest him,” he said. Niazi wasn’t questioned in connection with the prohibited funding case, he said.
Earlier, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) issued a rebuttal over reports that he Senator Niazi had been arrested by the agency.
“Senator Saifullah Niazi is yet to be arrested by any wing of the FIA,” said the statement.
PTI leaders condemned the arrest, with Fawad Chaudhry tweeting that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s press conference a day earlier, in which he accused Imran Khan of treason, conspiring against the country and straining ties with ‘key ally’ US, showed that the incumbent government was skittish. He also referred to the raid at the Karachi residence of Tariq Shafi, another close confidante of PTI leader Imran Khan.
“The wall is falling now. Waiting for the final push. The workers get ready,” he said alluding to Imran’s so-called “Haqeeqi Azadi March”.
The FIA had raided Niazi’s residence last month, confiscating his cell phone and laptop. Sources say that Niazi was being investigated in connection with operating a website that was used for illegal fund-raising.
“They are making a mockery of the law. This has never happened in Pakistan before,” wrote PTI’s Iftikhar Durrani, while claiming that Niazi was picked up from Senate premises.
Meanwhile, Hamid Zaman was taken into custody reportedly from his Lahore office. He was arrested in connection with the prohibited funding case. He is a trustee of the Insaf Trust, where payments from questionable sources were received. FIA sources said that Zaman was being quizzed in connection with the $625,000 that landed in an Insaf Trust account he was operating.
Zaman is also a leading textile mill owner and heads a key association of textile mill owners of northern Punjab.
“Guess the state of the ‘State’ if people like [Interior Minister] Rana Sanaullah, who himself should be behind bars, is getting such citizens arrested,” tweeted Azhar.
Durrani claimed that this was part of a bigger crackdown on the PTI leadership. He tweeted that the residence of Member of National Assembly Aamer Mehmood Kayani was also raided.
