There was a ruckus in the Sindh Assembly when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members disrupted the ongoing session after opposition leader, Haleem Adil Sheikh, was denied permission to address the assembly.
Haleem Adil Sheikh requested to speak first but Speaker Sindh Assembly Agha Siraj Durrani denied him permission, saying the scheduled business would be carried out first and members would be allowed to speak on their points of order later, reports Dawn.
This caused the Opposition members to protest against the Speaker. Amid the sloganeering, some of the protesting members brought a folding charpoy into the House, marking ‘funeral of democracy’ in the Sindh Assembly.
“Jamhooriyat ka janaaza hai, zara dhoom se nikle” (It is the funeral of democracy, should be taken out with fanfare).
Speaker Siraj Durrani said this was an insult to the House.
Just a day before the Senate Elections, lawmakers from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) decided to wrestle each other in the Sindh Assembly creating havoc.
As per details, PTI’s disgruntled MPAs – Aslam Abro, Shehryar Shar and Karim Bakhsh Gabol – were beaten up by their own party members during a session of the Sindh Assembly.
The three MPAs had earlier said that they will not vote for PTI candidates in the Senate polls. The fighting match that ensued can be seen in the tweets shared by journalists Murtaza Ali Shah and Gharidah Farooqi.
افسوسناک مناظر سندھ اسمبلی کے آج کے۔ پی ٹی آئی اراکینِ اسمبلی نے اپنے ہی ساتھیوں کی پٹائی کر دی کیونکہ انہوں نے پی ٹی آئی سینیٹ امیدواروں کو ووٹ دینے سے علی الاعلان انکار کر دیا ہے۔ ضمنی الیکشن میں تشدد اور اب سینیٹ الیکشن میں بھی تشدد۔ pic.twitter.com/Be4m1cZjqG
Later, a video of PPP MPA Sharmila Faruqi running out of the assembly emerged and the lawmaker clarified that she was running to get security.
Yes I’m ok was running to call the house security from outside the assembly before to save the poor mpa from being beaten to death! https://t.co/n5hd4X0eVh
— Dr. Sharmila sahibah faruqui (Phd) s.i (@sharmilafaruqi) March 2, 2021
When asked about this incident by journalists outside the Sindh Assembly, PTI’s Haleem Adil Sheikh started shouting at them.
He said that he is very sad that today, some senior journalists are posing as PPP workers and also called them lifafa sahaafi (journalists who take money). He also raised slogans against journalists.
صحافیوں پر سیاسی جماعت سے وابستگی کے الزامات پر پی ٹی آئی معافی مانگے،سوال کرنا صحافی کا حق ہے، حلیم عادل شیخ کی صحافیوں کیخلاف نعرے بازی کسی طرح قبول نہیں،پی ٹی آئی کی قیادت کی جانب سے معافی نہیں مانگی گئی تو ان کی کوریجز کا بائیکاٹ کیا جائے گا @OfficialPfuj@HamidMirPAKpic.twitter.com/hG258Qceq6
— Karachi Union of Journalists (@OfficialKUJ) March 2, 2021
Responding to Sheikh’s comments, senior journalist Asma Shirazi asked why is it that whenever tough questions are asked, PTI members resort to attacks on journalists.
کمال ہے اگر صحافی پی ٹی آئی سے سخت سوال کریں تو لفافے یا غدار۔۔۔وفاق ہو یا صوبہ تحریک انصاف کب تک ایسا کرے گی ؟؟صحافیوں کے ساتھ تحریک انصاف کے سندھ اراکین کا رویہ انتہائی افسوس ناک اور قابل مذمت ہے ۔ #SindhAssembly#JournalismIsNotACrime
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Haleem Adil Sheikh has accused the Sindh government of trying to harm in jail through its alleged goons in the light of a video released by PTI’s Karachi chapter showing the Sindh opposition leader running for his life.
جیل کے اندر کی فوٹیج۔ حلیم عادل شیخ کو اہلکار بھگاتے ہوئے محفوظ جگھ کی طرف لے جا رہے ہیں۔۔۔ فوٹیج سے اندازہ لگایا جا سکتا ہے کہ حالات بہتر نہیں تھے اس لیے جیل حکام نے فورن کنٹرول کیا۔۔ pic.twitter.com/ymTXcQcd9G
According to PTI, the MPA was attacked by “goons” in jail and he was running from them to save himself. In a video statement, Sheikh said he had come to Karachi’s Jinnah Hospital allegedly after he was beaten up in jail, adding that PTI workers, including Samir Mir Shaikh, Amjad, Hafeez Chandio and three other people who are in Central Jail are being “tortured”.
PPP Sindh gov is a classic example of lawlessness & tyranny! My fellow insafiyans & PTI workers are being manhandled, tortured & harassed in jail! @samirmir is facing brutal treatment only because he has insider knowledge about PPP’s criminal tactics! pic.twitter.com/9tEVyFAUM2
Maritime Minister Ali Zaidi also alleged torture on Sheikh. “Sheikh was hospitalised after being attacked by 50 PPP goons inside Central Jail Karachi,” he claimed.
POLICE CONTRADICT SHEIKH:
However, Karachi Central Jail Superintendent Hassan Sahito rejected the claims made by the PTI leader. He said “nobody raised a hand on Haleem Adil Sheikh or slapped him”, adding that some prisoners raised slogans against Sheikh and PM Imran Khan when the PTI leader was being shifted to another ward.
“Haleem Adil Sheikh was being moved to the Mohammad Ali B-class ward […] and was passing through the waiting area when some prisoners raised slogans. He was moved back to the superintendent’s office in 26 seconds,” Sahito said.
Sheikh was later moved to the security ward, he added.
According to the police officer, Sheikh was moved to a hospital because he had submitted an application for treatment. According to Sheikh, he suffered from blood pressure issues and had heart problems and he was regularly treated at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD).
The Sindh government also denied the allegations levelled by the PTI leaders, saying Sheikh was arrested on the orders of the Election Commission of Pakistan.He further said that Sheikh could be seen “happy and healthy” in the hospital which shows that he wasn’t tortured at all. “No torture was done on him in jail,” Wahab stressed.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker and leader of opposition in Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Sheikh, has killed a snake that appeared in his jail cell, the MPA’s spokesperson confirmed.
“A poisonous snake appeared in the room of Haleem Adil Sheikh, which was pinpointed by a servant who went there to deliver breakfast,” Sheikh’s spokesperson Muhammad Ali Baloch said on Thursday.
“After seeing the snake, Sheikh killed it,” Baloch said, adding that the presence of the snake in his boss’s room puts a question mark on the performance of Sindh police.
He went on to say that conspiracies were being hatched against Sheikh as “police have become a slave to the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)”.
The statements were followed by Additional Inspector General of Police (AIG) Karachi Ghulam Nabi Memon seeking a report from authorities concerned regarding the appearance of the snake.
AIG Memon telephoned DIG (CIA) Arif Hanif, ordered him to investigate the matter and submit a report at the earliest.
Meanwhile, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Karachi has sent the PTI leader to jail on judicial remand till February 25.
The ATC was hearing the case related to aerial firing and disturbance during Karachi’s PS-88 by-election on February 16, in the aftermath of which Sheikh had been placed under police custody.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Haleem Adil Sheikh was detained by the Sindh police on Tuesday for violating election rules, as the former claimed that his vehicle was fired upon by unknown persons during the polling in Malir’s Darsano Chana.
The by-polls in PS-88 constituency were conducted after Ghulam Murtaza Baloch, the minister for human settlement, died of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the PTI MPA was quoted by Samaa, saying the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) workers allegedly attacked him. He showed a bullet mark on his windshield, saying his bulletproof vehicle was attacked by the PPP. The bullets were fired in the presence of the police,” he alleged.
The PTI leader was arrested by the provincial police even though the reports of his arrest were refuted earlier. According to Geo, the MPA will be taken to the Memon Goth police station in armoured vehicle.
As the arrest took place, riot police were stationed outside the SSP’s office. Water cannons and additional troops were also ready to deal with any protests. All the police personnel were given anti-riot gear.
Before the arrest, the MPA was expelled from the constituency following the Election Commission of Pakistan’s orders for violating the code of conduct and was subsequently detained. Dawn reported that that Sheikh’s guards “resorted to firing” at a polling station in Ghulam Hussain Jokhio Goth after the chief election commissioner’s “prompt orders to evict the leader of the opposition from the constituency”.
Furthermore, the PPP also accused the PTI leader of violating the ECP rules. The PPP wrote a letter to the ECP and urged it to take notice of the alleged rule violations by Sheikh. According to the letter: “Sheikh could be seen roaming the constituency with armed persons and was harassing voters.”
A video of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Haleem Adil Sheikh, wherein he is proudly presenting the party’s “sariyay [iron rod] wala seth“, went viral over the internet on Saturday.
The video shows Adil using the term to refer to his colleague and Sindh Human Rights Focal Person Mir Iftikhar Ahmed Khan Lund.
Earlier this month, Lund’s appointment by the Human Rights Ministry had sparked a debate on social media since he is accused of violating his driver by inserting an iron rod into his rectum.
“The poor don’t matter to them…” Adil says while criticising an unnamed entity in the video breaking the internet. “The thing is if they learn their lesson with batons… it’s good… [else] we have sariyay wala seth with us now,” he says as he holds Lund’s hand and the entire room breaks into laughter.
WATCH VIDEO:
PTI leader Haleem Adil Sheikh introducing the party’s leader in Ghotki and ‘human rights adviser’ Iftikhar Lund as “Sarye (iron rod) Wala Seth”. Iftikhar Lund faces charges of torturing his employee by shoving an iron rod into his rectum. Video via Rab Nawaz Baloch pic.twitter.com/5CA7g1HefO
According to a Human Rights Ministry notification dated July 10, Minister Shireen Mazari appointed Lund as a focal person on the issues of human rights in Sindh.
“He shall assist the office of the federal minister on the issues of human rights while keeping liaison with relevant stakeholders,” the notification read.
While the appointment is “purely voluntary without the ministry bearing any expenses”, the news took the internet by storm owing to the gross violation allegedly committed by Lund in April.
THE ASSAULT:
As per the details, a van driver named Allah Rakhio was allegedly assaulted and meted out inhumane punishment in Sindh’s Ghotki district on the orders of his employer, Lund, and his three relatives.
According to the victim’s son, Zahid Hussain Rakhio, his father had a disagreement with Shafiq Lund, following which he was called to Iftikhar’s residence where he was mercilessly beaten up by Shafiq, Rafiq Lund and Mumtaz Ali Lund in Iftikhar’s presence.
Injured Rakhio called Hussain, who took him to the hospital, where he received eight stitches on his private parts. A video of Rakhio lying on his back on a stretcher and narrating his ordeal was also widely shared over the internet.
FIR AGAINST LUND:
A First Information Report (FIR) against Iftikhar, Mumtaz, Shafiq and Rafiq on the victim’s complaint was filed at the Khanpur Mahar police station.
The FIR was filed under sections 324 (attempt to commit qatle amd), 355 (assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour a person), 147 (punishment for rioting) and 143 (punishment for being a member of unlawful assembly).
Hussain claims that police have not yet made any arrests and are trying to brush the incident under the carpet, while party sources say the issue was resolved in an out of court settlement as the driver forgave Lund and his accomplices.
